As if poor form and low confidence weren’t bad enough, CD Tenerife nearly sunk themselves with a couple of moments of individual stupidity at Real Zaragoza. A generous referee and a late face saver from Bryan Acosta saved a 1-1 draw but left the team in 19^th and trapped in the relegation zone. Coach Jose Luis Oltra tried another format for his 400^th match as a manager in the Second Division, and it did offer some hope. Nano survived a training ground ankle injury scare to pair up with Suso as central strikers, the five man defence had Luis Perez and Hector Hernandez ( in for sore throat sufferer Camille) to provide the width. Hector made early ground down the left past two defenders but his cross found empty space. Perez pumped a ball in from the right, an easy take for the home keeper. The home crowd had come to bury their under fire coach, Imanol Idiakez, rather than praise him, a wild shot from forward Pombo and a Delmas back pass from the half way line brought plenty of stick for the coach and players.

Suso was adjusting to his more central role, Acosta sent him a well weighted cross , he slipped the ball though the goalies legs and along the line but a defender spared his blushes and cleared the danger. That was about as good as it got for Tenerife in the first half, not enough players were creating space for decent shots. Zaragoza showed some urgency at the start of the second half, Pombo turned well to set up Lasure for a shot off the bar. The big forward set himself up for another attempt but Hector robbed him with an effective sliding tackle. There had been some niggling exchanges between the two sets of players in the first half but pushing and shoving as Zaragoza pressed Tenerife back brought a booking for Jorge’s agression that included a half hearted punch. The ref could have easily sent Jorge off but didn’t get a clear view of what went on. A crunching Munoz foul on Nano a few minutes later really lit the fuse. The home player had done his homework and clearly knew about Nano´s injury. After trying to hobble, Nano had to make way for sub Naranjo, while Munoz got a yellow card.

Suso was never going to be intimidated, he just played harder and better, he turned Lasure inside out before shooting wide. Joao came on later for Suso to try to exploit the left wing, his success was only limited. Munoz rode his luck again with a flying boot to stop a Naranjo run. The home crowd were stirred by their sides physical tactics and the players responded to the increased vocal backing. Pombo brought a smart save out of Dani Hernandez. Zaragoza sub Medina was lively, but should have connected with a shot fired across the Tenerife goal mouth.

With five minutes remaining It was shaping up for a goal less draw when Dani, under no real pressure, made a two handed push to the chest of Medina. It was sheer lunacy and a clear penalty that Delmas despatched swiftly. Tenerife brought on Malbasic for Hector to add a bit of late muscle up front but it was James who went close for Zaragoza. Six minutes into injury time, Joao was fouled, Luis Milla teed up the ball from the free kick, and Acosta leapt to head it into the goal. A great escape for Tenerife but the Zaragoza coach wasn’t as fortunate, he was sacked after the game.