From their promotion wave to their top of the table start to life in the Tercera Division, UD Tamaraceite have caused quite a stir as they swept long established teams before them. In the first half at CD Marino it was easy to see they had height, power, strength, and bags of confidence to fire them into a 0-2 lead. The home side had more youth team blues in their line up, and they learnt quickly to forge their raw talent into a formidable force, and ultimately were unlucky not to go one better than an impressive 2-2 draw.
A mix of injuries, suspensions, and absentees left gaps to be filled and positional changes to be made. Coach Zeben Hernandez had confidence in his young guns who have come up through the youth ranks together. Connor moved into central defence and inspired those around him, especially Niki at right back. Jony Cabrera again flew down the right wing, and Antonio Samuel still made his lightning breaks of the previous game but this time was overlapping from the left back role. Jonathan Sesma enjoyed more freedom as the lead striker with Gaizka tucked in just behind him.
In some ways, Tamaraceite´s hot form instilled some wariness in the home side. Zizu tested David in the opening minutes, but the keeper was equal to the shot. It took just 7 minutes for Eros to find the back of the home net from a Jose Maria pass. Big left back Jordan of the Gran Canarian side pushed forward and imposed himself at first on Niki but it didn´t last long. Making his own pitch long run, Niki got a great cross in that the goalie, Jonay, had to cut out. Gaizka won a midfield ball and passed on to Jony who found Antonio galloping in, his shot was a little wild but it showed that the visitors were vulnerable to pace.
Tamaraceite made their breaks in numbers with plenty of width and support from their defence, it paid off again after 25 minutes when Jordan picked out Borja for a clear shot to make it 0-2. They should have added a third a minute later, Jordan beat Jony and Niki before setting up Borja who made a mess of his shot. Niki showed his defensive coolness when he tidied up a dangerous loose ball back to David whilst under pressure. Jony made room for Ahmed to run at the away goalie, he scrambled the ball to safety. A third goal conceded before half time would have buried the game, Tamaraceite put more pressure on but the Marino defence stood firm despite Lopez Silva going down in search of a penalty.
Marino were more adventurous in the second half, after Niki had headed clear a Tamaraceite chance, Ahmed´s chipped into the box just eluding Sesma, both in the opening minutes. Jony felt hard done by after being hacked down in the penalty area, the ref didn’t want to know. Pace always worries defenders, Marino had already shown that they were full of running, bringing on another youth player, Djavan for Gaizka just added to the attacking threat. Quickness of reaction was also serving Marino well in defence, Alvarez and Borja combined well for the visitors but Niki nipped in and cut out the danger.
Sesma was enjoying being back in the initial eleven and cut in from the right only to see his shot go out of play after clipping the post. Marino deserved a goal for a slick move involving Niki and Jony that ended with Juanmi heading wide. Tamaraceite were pinned down, goalie Jonay rescued them by snatching the ball off Jony as he bore down on goal. A home goal was overdue, Antonio powered down the left and crossed the ball, Juanmi used his strength to drive the ball into the visitors net with 15 minutes left. Djavan got in on the act, turning Jordan easily and aiming at goal, a defender managed to get the loose ball back to his goalie but it was just a temporary reprieve.
Ahmed picked up a loose ball and picked his way through the Tamaraceite defence before burying the ball in the back of the net to level the scores. There was a frantic end to the game as Marino queued up to try to find a winner. Djavan had another chance that was stopped when the keeper rushed out to claim the ball. Prince easily beat Borja but he went over a little easily and got the free kick call. The final chance came in injury time, a Sesma cross was destined for the head of Djavan but he couldn’t get the direction he needed and it passed outside the post. The point kept Tamaraceite top of the pile, and Marino in 13th place, a gallant draw and another boost for the future growing confidence of the home squad.