As cool as a stroll along the banks of the Seine, Jeremy Mellot teed up the ball wide and high on the right and thundered it past the bewildered Girona goalie. Not bad for his first CD Tenerife goal since joining in the summer from the French Second Division. Already admired for his staunch custody of the right back slot, Mellot continued the weekly emergence of new heroes in this quality squad. Enric Gallego ensured a 2-1 home win and third place with his own outstanding drive after 80 minutes.
In the search for perfection, coach Ramis can point out the possible drag factor of bookings and suspensions. Aitor Sanz got a second minute yellow and second half sub Pablo Larrea got a straight red after 87 minutes for a wild tackle and an Oscar winning perfprmance from his victim.
Girona are part of the City Group and included three Manchester City loanees in their squad. Nahuel Bustos was their starting target man but was kept under lock and key by Sipcic in the first half and was taken off part way through the second half. Home keeper Soriano made light work of a few speculative shots while Elady and Gallego were always a danger going forward. Ruben Diaz found the away stopper with a soft shot but it was Girona who emerged more alert for the opening of the second half.
The Tenerife midfield gave up too much room and Baena finished well to level the scores. Sam Shasoua was quiet by his standards and made way for Bermejo as Ruben departed in favour of livewire Mollejo. The two new additions revitalised the home attacks and it was just a matter of time before Tenerife reeled Girona in. The gallego goal was just reward for siege of their visitors half. Mollejo should have added an third goal late on but tried to push it straight through the goalie instead of passing or rounding him.
The refs VAR check before dispatching Larrea, and his fussy delays on late home subs, made for a nervous six minutes of extra time. Sergio Gonzalez and Shaq Moore barely had time to feel the pitch beneath their feet before the ref finally signalled another hard earned and confident three points for CD Tenerife. Just 10,173 fans this time, they deserve a much bigger audience.