All the suffering of recent weeks performances was brushed aside as CD Tenerife re-discovered their pride, character, and team spirit to beat Las Palmas 2-1 at home after going a goal behind. It will go down as one of the great derby performances, the odds against a home win were stacked as high as Mount Teide. No one personified the proud, beating heart of the team more than goalie Roberto, the Icod born stopper stepped up to reclaim his gloves after an injury to Jacobo and his emotions were raw after his father died in the week. He shed a few tears after topping a brilliant game with a stunning injury time full length dive.

There’s always fun and games when the pios come to Tenerife, despite a scorching sunny morning, a car load of their fans experienced a full moon from our coach on the way into Santa Cruz. The pre game drinking session was interspersed with the burning of two stuffed pios, a little petrol and a few bangers helped them on their way, not sure what the police helicopter made of the plumes of smoke. The Heliodoro was decked out with fantastic tifo displays from the Frente Blanquiazul at our end, and the Zoneros behind the other goal, it was up to the team to match the mood.

Las Palmas sat top of the table, playing flowing football with plenty of goals but from the start the Tenerife midfield closed them down with Vitolo and Aitor Sanz on top form. Cristo and Guarrotxena both went close in the opening ten minutes with the pios looking very average but a defensive slip up let them open the scoring. Araujo out jumped Albizua to win the ball and slipped it to Aleman, his pass found Momo with space to score.

Tenerife were the better team and stuck to their guns, Guarrotxena forced a finger tip save from Lizoain as they kept the pios on the back foot. The leveler came from a Guarrotxena corner, as Tenerife attacked the ball, Araujo got in the way and diverted the ball into his own net. Pressure was the key, combined with relentless team work Tenerife strangled the visitors supply lines and set the pace. On the half hour Aridane put the ball in the net with a well measured header but the ref did well to spot it was offside. Suso was always ready to test the Gran Canarian defence and Aridane was an absolute menace to the back tracking pios.

There was a good buzz to the half time chat among the home fans and it got even better within minutes of the restart. Moyano carried the ball upfield, laid it off to Suso and he unlocked the back door before setting up Cristo to rifle in a quality goal. The pio fans faces turned a sickly yellow to match their banners, once again they had bottled their big moment. Tenerife looked comfortable, Roberto was commanding and the team never sat back on the lead. Ricardo replaced Guarrotxena, Maxi took over from Cristo, and Uli came on as Aridane departed to grateful applause.

Suso was tormenting the pios and was denied a goal by a high take from Lizoain. The stadium was rocking and the clock was ticking down. Four minutes of injury time was added to test the nerves, Las Palmas had a last ditch effort, first Roberto made a good block at the post and then in the final seconds he leapt across his goalmouth to touch away a certain goal. As the whistle went, the Tenerife players embraced and cheered Roberto, they knew how much he had poured into the game. Sometimes it takes an unexpected misfortune to pull players together, all through the game and in that emotional climax they were a team again.

The only let down was the crowd of 17,064, it should have been a 23,000 full house. Next Sunday it’s Leganes away, a lowly and very beatable team, it’s still early enough to make a big climb up the table, the belief is back and last seasons best form came after beating the pios.