As Santa Cruz shook off its Carnaval hangover, CD Tenerife had their own party, putting SD Eibar to the sword with a 2-0 home win to deny the visitors a chance to top the table. Luismi Cruz lit up the depleted 8,000 lunch time crowd after 9 minutes with a soaring raid down the right before flighting in a perfect hanging cross for Maikel Mesa to apply a bullet header past the goalie. It set the tone for the whole game as Tenerife kept a spark flickering in their relegation survival fight.

Coach Alvaro Cervera has been keeping his pack fresh with well chosen tweaks to the line up each game, Veteran Aitor Sanz stretched his appearance stats with a typical gutsy first half, and with young Rodriguez looking mean at left back, Eibar were made to look very ordinary. A big point of interest was the debut of Anthony Landazuri, a big defensive free agent signed just after the January window closed. “Bam Bam” looked a bit rusty but the 27 year old from Ecuador, has a two year deal with Tenerife and looked like he will beef up the team.

It´s a great credit to coach Cervera and his staff, that they are still trying out new formations and moves on the pitch. The squad is far better than at the end of last year. The youth and B team players being fast tracked through the ranks are showing strength and skill. Edgar Badia looks solid in goal, and that confidence spreads out through the line up.

With the game slipping into injury time, there was always a chance of Eibar spoiling the day, but up stepped another hero. Aaron Martin, another nugget from the youth set up drew a clutch of Eibar defenders out of their comfort zone and danced around them for a classy finish to nail the game. Hope is wonderful thing, after a run of defeats, relegation seemed inevitable, but this victory allows the Tenerife fans to hold on tightly to that glimmer of light.