Weakened at the knees by football´s current femme fatal, the penalty spot. Enric Gallego made amends with a 2-0 strike that withstood a Alaves rally. Expecting to retake top spot in Spain´s Second Division, Alaves found hosts CD Tenerife in defiant and creative mood as they outplayed the visitors for most of the game.

Ivan Romero was always ready to strike from the shadow of the target man, Gallego, and Waldo gave good support on the left. The big centre forward should have learned from the World Cup follies when he was brought down and rose to take the penalty on the half hour. It was a straight soft shot that barely tickled  keeper Silvera.

Team mate Teto took some attention of the big man a few minutes later as he reacted well to a loose ball, turned well and buried it in the corner of the net to take the lead. There was even redemption for the man himself five minutes into the second half, determination carried him through and this time he showed no mercy. A 2-0 lead still left Alaves with some hope, Aitor Sanz and Sipcic in particular worked hard to squeeze them down, and it seemed to be working.

Sub Sylla came on hungry and sniffed out a half chance, looping a shot past home keeper Soriano after 81 minutes. It made for a nervous end but Tenerife held firm. Alaves never gave up, Duarte shaved a post, but it was a happy ending to the 100th game in charge for coach Ramis.

The league is a harsh judge of resurgent form and reborn hope, the final two pre christmas league games will need to pull in some more points. The Santa Cruz crowd also need their confidence rebuilding, another drop to  a 6,794 attendance came after weeks of under achieving. As a stand alone game this was good to watch and a tonic for bruised pride after recent cave ins. Now in 14th place, Tenerife can at least hope to reach higher with a new President and a few tweaks to the squad in the January window.