It was harder work than it should have been, chances were squandered, and the team switched off for large parts of the game but a 1-o home win can never be a bad thing. Curuxo were another of the great unknowns, hailing from a town of just 5,000 people not much was expected of them and maybe CD Tenerife took them lightly. Tall forward Zurbano was the visitors biggest threat in the first half but became the biggest idiot with a suicidal sending off just into the second half to give Tenerife a man advantage that they struggled to exploit.

There’s no room to relax for CDT players under coach Calderon, he surprised everyone again by not returning fit again Perona to the starting attack, preferring to keep faith with Ruben Rosquete and he certainly madethe most of it. Nico got a start at the expense of Abel or Kitoko in midfield and Tenerife dominated the early play. Zurbano’s height was proving a problem for the home defence but Kiko and Rosquete had some good openings from moves down the flanks by Nico and Tacon (below). Alberto in the away goal looked pretty sound and contributed to stifling Tenerife’s goal ambitions.

Zurbano started to create more problems, Cristobal did well to head clear after the forward was through but just before half time Zurbano pushed his luck with a blatant hand ball that he tried to blame on a Tenerife player. A little melee near the benches saw three yellow cards dished out in the break including the big Coruxo forward, we were hoping he might get sent off and he obliged us a daft second yellow within two minutes of the restart – now surely it would be easy? Rosquete got his reward after 55 minutes with a well taken goal, quite a moment for the local player given a second chance at the club. A few minutes later he went off to loud applaude from the 10,229 crowd to be replaced by Perona.

Kiko was not having one of his best games and he couldn’t get the shots he needed on target, Josmar came on for Nico but was played wide on the left, a waste of his attacking talents. Perona put a weak shot straight into the goalies hands and then he and Kiko got in a muddle in front of goal and watched the ball trickle wide. Josmar had a cheeky attempt trying to chip the out of position keeper but he managed to claw it to safety. Coruxo had nothing to lose and with Tenerife sitting back they pushed forward. Sergio made a couple of strong saves, one shot flashed by the goal post, and Yeray, the La Palma born sub skied a clear chance with the goal gaping before him. It was a win, not comfortable in the end but they all count and Tenerife are back on top for at least a few hours.