Slap and tickle, bangers and mash, drunk and disorderly – all great double acts but my favourite of the moment is Diego and Maxi. There was a goal each for them as CD Tenerife saw off Osasuna 2-1 in Santa Cruz to make it six games without defeat.
Much was made pre game of the return of former scoring hero Nino but he was kept quiet by solid home defending. A few weeks ago we couldn’t score for love nor money (I think we only tried one of those incentives) but now it’s so different. Diego Ifran has found his sharpness in front of goal and Maxi Perez was amazing again, covering so much ground in front of goal and fighting for every ball. A wide effort from Sisi after 6 minutes showed Osasuna couldn’t be taken lightly but despite a regular threat from Cedrick down the left they looked blunt at close range.
Diego made good ground at the visitors far post only to see their goalie Riesgo tighten the angle well to squeeze him out. Suso and Moyano combined to open them up again but couldn’t find the net. Merino had a good chance for Osasuna but found that home keeper Dani is just as accomplished with his boots as with his gloves, he got a foot back to ball that seemed sure to beat him on the blindside. Let’s not forget Suso’s contribution to the forward revival, he is back to his hungry best and on the half hour cut in from the right but couldn’t get enough power on his shot.
Suso wasn’t about to be put off and surged through again, his sweet looping shot over the defence had their keeper flapping, he patted the ball down and Diego was on hand to fire it in the net for a 1-0 lead. The torrential rain got worse and in the break a few of us started to build an ark, thankfully it wasn’t needed so we could concentrate on enjoying the second half. The Uruguayan pair teamed up with Diego setting up Maxi whose shot flew across the face of the goal. These are troubled times on and of the pitch for Osasuna and they had little enthusiasm for the fight, even Cedrick fizzled out.
A second goal was needed, Cristo Martin, on for Juan Carlos, grabbed his chance to impress by putting in a strong run followed by a delightful cross from the left which Maxi met with a well timed header. The game looked over but a late penalty gave Osasuna some faint hope, Nino went down in the box after a tackle from sub Cristo Diaz, the spot kick was a soft decision and Nekounam stroked the ball into the net. The ref found four minutes of added time from somewhere but it made no difference, the only bad aspect of the latest win was the poor 7,308 crowd, they missed another well drilled, professional performance from CD Tenerife.