We could be kind and say Raul Llorente was trying to share the love and give Sales a cuddle but it looked more like a wrestling maul than his first booking earlier in the second half. This second clumsy block in injury time got him a red card and gave Alcorcon the green light to press for the winner from a crazy penalty call on Bruno leaving CD Tenerife to lose 1-0.

Caution seemed to be the game plan in this first match back in the Segunda and it was working well, Tenerife packed the midfield leaving Ayoze to use his pace to chase half chances up front. Even Chechu and Oscar Rico tucked well in rather than exploit the wings and the Tenerife defence looked solid with Bruno and Carlos Ruiz continuing their pairing in the centre. Neither keeper had a lot to do, Sergio Aragoneses punched clear from a corner and easily picked up a weak shot from Juli and at the other end Gimenez watched Bruno head a corner over and a Chechu free kick elude Ayoze as well as his defence.

The second half brought drama as a body check from Cristo saw Sanz tumble and smack his head on an advertising hoarding. There was a ten minute delay as an ambulance cut across the pitch to bring him round and then take him away for safety checks. Chechu had the best chance when he turned smartly in the box and fired low but the goalie reacted well to save. Then Raul Llorente had his first close encounter with Sales stopping him in his tracks with all the subtlety of an oversized wardrobe. The left back had another scare when a cross hit him on the shoulder, the penalty appeal was quickly dismissed.

Guillem took over from Ayoze late on before an extra 11 minutes injury time kicked in. Raul’s red changed everything, Mora curled the resulting free kick just over the Tenerife bar and a few minutes Bruno dropped his body to block the ball and an attacker let through by Chechu. Even though the defender ended up with his back to the Alcorcon player the ref gave a penalty and Juli picked out the bottom corner of the net. The home side were close to increasing the win as Afonso smashed a shot off the underside of the bar but it’s been a good week for late escapes for Alcorcon so they wont lose any sleep over that near miss.

Hercules are the visitors in Santa Cruz back at a normal time of 6pm and new left back Salva Ruiz will get his chance to stake a claim for Llorente’s place.