Ricardo and Ros may sound like a couple of 1980’s TV detectives but they nabbed the headlines with goals in another accomplished CD Tenerife win, this time 2-1 at home to Real Jaen. In the clash of the form teams Tenerife had the greater passion and hunger as every player pulled together and worked for the shirt.
Although it was difficult to single out any player, Suso was outstanding, Jaen must have been sick of the sight of him surging down the right, the only way they could stop him was to crunch him down or give him a shove. That last option was what opened the scoring as Servando gave Suso a blatant push as he powered into the penalty area. The penalty was given and Ricardo slotted it home for a 22nd minute lead, the defender was lucky not to get a second booking and a sending off.
It was good to see former Tenerife favourite Kitoko back in town, he looked a bit out of sorts at full back and went off to a generous round of applause shortly before half time with a muscle injury. His replacement Gaitan was hopeless, bet Jaen wish they had such versatile players as Tenerife, coach Alvaro Cervera was spot on again with his selection. Bruno and Aridane returned from injury and didn’t shy away from the action, Aridane was even spotted tracking back and defending.
Jona arrived with a nine goal reputation but some of his shooting was pretty hit and hope, there’s no way he could beat Roberto on his current form. Late in the opening half Cascon had a clear chance to equalize but as he hesitated Roberto took charge and punched the ball away. Ayoze was hustling as usual but was getting plenty of attention, early in the second half he was squeezed out by two defenders as he made a run for goal.
Jaen made the most of their best spell, a break on the left and a sharp inswinging ball was met by the head of Hugo Alvarez to level the scores. A double substitution had seen Ros and Rivero replace Ricardo and Cristo and it produced the goods. Rivero took control of the set pieces and swung in a perfect corner for Ros to glance past the keeper at the near post. It was richly deserved by Tenerife and Jaen fell apart, Alvarez must have been replaying his goal in his head, meanwhile his feet were all over the place and along with Gaitan they gave their goalie the jitters. A sloppy back pass invited Aridane but he couldn’t quite reach the ball and Alvarez gifted the ball to Suso, keeper Rene saved their blushes that time. Even in the final minutes Tenerife were pushing for more, Rivero curled a lovely corner just under the bar and it needed a helping hand over to avoid another goal. More of the same at Girona next Sunday will do nicely.