The hard work starts now for CD Tenerife coach Pep Marti, the initial rush of enthusiasm from his appointment is giving way to the realism of a squad short of depth and lacking that killer instinct. After Alamo’s foul on Suso saw him off with a second booking it should have paved the way to turn the eventual 1-1draw into a win but sloppy passing and not enough ammunition for lively sub Choco sealed four points dropped in two home games.

Tommy Martinez was rewarded for his impressive run outs from the bench with a starting slot, Pedro Martin and Alberto returned and Omar kept his starting role with Aitor Sanz nowhere to be seen. Our River Plate loanee showed his pleasure with  a place in the starting 11 by slipping a lovely cross ball to Suso in the opening minute, his hot was saved but it was encouraging. Lejeune managed a flash over the bar but Tenerife had the best of the early play.

Raul Camara were getting in each others way as they tried to overlap down the right, maybe spreading it more often to Omar on the other wing might have given Girona more headaches. Sanchon was the best of a poor bunch from the visitors, he should have done better when dragging his shot wide just before the half hour. Tenerife’s have a very poor first half scoring record this season and it can encourage the visitors to test them out. A Girona break through Alamo on the right came to Pons at the far post, he headed the ball down and Sobrino had plenty of space to slip the ball in the home net. A quick reply was needed, thankfully it came with the break looming. Suso was fouled and the free kick swept into the box where Omar ran in to head the leveller.

It was cut and thrust at the start of the second half, Pedro did well to hold up a through ball but no one came to take advantage of his neat control, Girona managed a rare break which Dani snuffed out with a low save. I’m a big fan of our young defender Jorge but he had one of his weaker games, he lost the ball in a dangerous position in shocking style and was lucky it wasn’t punished by a goal. Jorge is very positive and looks to play the ball forward all the time when sometimes he might be better to lay it off or pass back, but that will come with experience.

The defining moment of the game should have been the sending off after 53 minutes, the man advantage fired Tenerife up briefly, Pedro had a shot ping off the post but it was offside. Choco came on for Pedro and didn’t look rusty after his injury, he always has an instinct for goal, twice he turned with his back to goal and fired in strong shots that tested the keeper. Jairo arrived for Tommy, the youngster has bags of enthusiasm but is another small player, we need a few imposing players who can get stuck in – something for the January transfer window? Pep Marti took the gamble of adding Nano in favour of left back Aurtenetxe but the spark was missing in midfield and the supply line wasn’t good enough. In the final minute Girona could have nicked it, Sanchon was clear through and it took a classy save from Dani to hold onto the point. Three games to go this year and the relegation zone is still snapping at our heels, this is where it all gets serious.