That Suso Santana has a lovely pair of heels, ask the Valladolid defence, they had fleeting glimpses of them in CD Tenerife’s home 1-0 win. While I’m dishing out admiration, how about Dani Hernandez hands, the home goalie defied the visitors with a series of classy saves. But special mention must go to referee Monesellio and his benevolent eyes, it was a clear sending off tackle for accident prone CDT defender Jorge after 20 minutes but the ref only showed a yellow card. His generous spirit not only saved us from surviving 70 minutes a man short but also restored some belief that we do sometimes get a lucky break.

From that pivotal moment, Tenerife grew beyond a poor first half to offer some encouraging play, especially from the transfer window young pups, Amath N’Diaye and Haythem Jouni. It was another changed starting line up, Inaki and Omar out injured, German dropped in place of Jorge, and Cristo Gonzalez confined to the dog house after more public petulance. Valladolid had the better of early play, Carlos Ruiz had to put in a winning tackle to stop a goal run from Mata. Dani rose majestically to snuff out a dangerous corner, and tipped aside another shot after a defensive mix up, and with that Jorge moment the storm seemed to have been weathered.

Camille did well at left back, not as adventurous going forward as Inaki he did a job, Marc Crosas sat in front of the central defence and broke up several moves. Senegal born Amath, on loan from Atletico Madrid, showed some genuine pace from the left of midfield but in the first half there was never quite the ball needed for Choco and Suso up front. We were resigned to a goal less break but in the final minute Suso picked out Carlos Ruiz from an in swinging corner to make the break through. Suso was back in the groove and at his inspiring, tireless best in the second half, two fine moves opened up the Valladolid defence, the second a free kick that stung the opposition goalies hands. Amath showed he could cut inside as well as romp down the wing, he was crudely blocked when at full steam, just before departing to a generous round of applause.

Jouini arrived from the bench, the young Tunisian striker soon showed what he has to offer. A genuine target man, tall and awkward, he gave the rest of the team a boost. It could have been a dream debut, drifting right with the ball he rushed his shot straight at the keeper. With five minutes to go Aaron Niguez replaced Aitor Sanz and took up a position to the left of midfield. There wasn’t much time to make an impact but the run out will help him to get a feel for the task ahead. Suso produced another half chance, hooking the ball just high of the goal from a tight angle before making way for Alex Garcia. The skipper deserved the ovation of the 7,785 crowd, even if the legs are feeling the years he has so much heart and a stubborn determination. The final word should have belonged to Choco, in injury time a long clearance found him deep, turning on the pace he outstripped two defenders but tried to score himself when a lay off was the better option. Still an important win and it marks Valladolid’s card for the Copa del Rey game at their place.