Delayed by their inter island flight, Las Palmas C should have been there for the taking by hosts CD Marino, but neither side really took off in the forward areas and a 0-0 draw was always on the cards. The Gran Canaria side showed no ill effects of their rushed warm up and produced the best of the early exchanges. Home goalie David had to smother an early shot from Pipo, the liveliest of the Las Palmas strikers. Yeremi set up Adrian in front of the home goal mouth but Favarel blocked him well. A free kick from Stefane sailed high over the Marino goal as the blues struggled to make an impact with long hopeful balls.

Marino came more into the game when they used Javi Gonzalez on the left and Fayez on the right flank, the Las Palmas defenders found them hard to deal with. The final touch was lacking though, Yassine and Gaizka weren’t having the best of games and Ramirez in goal had few threats to deal with. On the half hour, Fayez put a perfect ball to the feet of Yassine but his shot was poor. Javi Gonzalez was causing plenty of problems for Las Palmas, and tried his luck with a curling shot that flew wide. This was Marino’s best spell of the game, Israel under 19 player Fayez came close with a strong header, and followed up soon after with a strike that deflected away off Anthony. Marino should have turned their advantage into goals, Connor rounded Pipo to feed Ammed whose shot missed the target. Las Palmas were relieved to go in at the break on even terms.

Changes were needed, Marino restarted with Sesma arriving from the bench to patrol the right side, giving Ammed the chance to play a more central role. Javi nearly made the breakthrough with a speedy break that ended in a Sesma header wide. A low shot from Guti could have caught the Las Palmas goalie out but he was alert and claimed the ball. Marino will wonder how they let the visitors off the hook, Sesma turned his marker but shot the wrong side of the woodwork, and Stefane made a timely tackle on Yassine when he headed for goal. At the other end, Favarel hooked the ball clear of danger when the yellows put together a break down the middle, and Omar spurned a chance by heading wide.

The easiest chance for Marino came with a free kick inside the penalty area, there was much discussion among the Marino players grouped around the ball but the kick was straight at the defensive wall. Going into the last five minutes, Ammed and Juan clashed when jumping for a 50-50 high ball. The ref over reacted by giving Ammed a second booking and a sending off to leave Marino with ten men. Las Palmas couldn´t believe their luck and launched a late offensive, David made an outstanding double save, and Fuentes skewed his shot away from the goal. The last shot of the game fell to Sesma and was easily dealt with by the goalie. Neither side could complain about the draw as they had made enough openings to have taken the three points.

Nano and Naranjo sound like a firm of accountants but the strikers have failed to bring any net gains to CD Tenerife this season. The lowest point so far came with a 0-1 home defeat to lowly Reus, bringing the new league season form to 3 draws and 2 losses, plus a 1-2 home defeat to Cadiz in the Copa del Rey. As other results put Tenerife in the drop zone, the club acted quickly to sack coach Joseba Etxeberria and appoint Jose Luis Oltra who took Tenerife into La Liga in the 2008-2009 season.

Inevitably fingers were pointed at coach Joseba Exteberria but he did all the right things this game, starting with Undaberrena in midfield and Hector Hernandez at left back after their impressive debut showings in the midweek cup defeat. The starting line up also included the clubs best players, Luis Milla and Bryan Acosta in midfield. Tenerife looked bright in the first half, a Suso cross was helped on by Naranjo but Malbasic was slow to react and the chance had gone.

Veteran Suso has been putting the younger players to shame and continued with a couple of early raids, including a defence splitting diagonal ball to Naranjo that the goal shy striker lost to a defender. An old nemesis came back to tease Tenerife, Edgar Badia in the Reus goal had proved himself before to be a mix of inspiration and irritation, he inspired his team mates with some great saves and irritated Tenerife with his constant gamesmanship and delaying tactics. After Malbasic had headed a chance at the keeper, Acosta hit a fierce shot that Edgar tipped over. At the other end Dani Hernandez had only one first half chore, taking a routine shot from Reus player Borja Herrera.

One of the best home moves came on the half hour, Undaberrena fed Acosta who brought another splendid save from Edgar. Luis Milla got a slice of the action with a goal bound strike that was headed clear, it all looked very hopeful at the half time break. Time was Tenerife´s enemy, a win was vital and Reus were happy to sit back and frustrate as the second half got underway. Another Acosta effort was easily dealt with by Edgar and a rare Reus attack ended with a header off a post. Naranjo was useless, no supportive runs, no holding up the ball, and no clear attempts on goal, no wonder he was off after 55 minutes, could his replacement Nano find his first goal? The La Laguna born strikers first touch of the ball was easily blocked by Edgar.

Milla went close with a low drilled shot, an Acosta corner missed defenders and attackers alike and the frustration of the 9,532 crowd was growing. Next swap was Montañes for Undaberrena, that should have given Tenerife more width down the left but it didn´t really work. It was all happening on the other flank, where Suso was busting a gut to prise open the Reus defence, Villanueva fouled him in the box but the ref wasn´t interested in giving a penalty. Tenerife had to push forward and Reus fancied their chances on the break, Ortiz pounced on a loose ball and headed towards the Tenerife goal, a pass to Alfredo left him facing Luis Perez and Dani Hernandez at the post. With the help of a rebound, Alfredo forced the ball in the goal as Dani hesitated.

Just 10 minutes remained to salvage the game, forward Borja Llarena came on for defender Jorge for the final push but Reus dug in. Edgar used every trick in his power to waste time and Tenerife didn´t have the cutting edge to break through. Four minutes of injury time didn´t help, Nano´s only real contribution of the afternoon was a last minute low shot straight at goalie Edgar. There were some whistles from the crowd at the end, a sign that the tide was turning against the coach and some players. No new players can be brought in until the January transfer window, that left the coach as the easy option for change but Nano and Naranjo were both long term targets for sporting director Serrano, maybe he should take some of the flack. That first win of the season is like a long overdue train, away to another of the new boss´s old teams, Cordoba on Saturday 22^nd September,it wouldn´t be a moment too soon.