Are we getting greedy? Having gorged on last weeks feast of a win over Castilla lips were being licked and appetites were at an all time high but there were only crumbs on offer for CD Tenerife in this 0-0 home draw with La Roda. The visitors played a spoiling game and went away thrilled with a hard erned draw but Tenerife, even with a lack of punch up front, should have sewn it up in the first half.
Once again we learned to appreciate Kiko in his abscence, suspended after another booking last week. Coach Garcia Tebar changed the playing pattern to accomodate a fit again Loro who tucked in just behind Perona, that left the midfield weak with no Zazo to back up Marcos and there was no target man to threaten the big defenders from Roda. Kike Lopez and Raul Llorente made a lot of openings down the left but they fizzled out before testing the away keeper.
After 20 minutes CDT lay siege to the Roda goal with four straight corners but each time Loro’s ball in was wasted and cleared away easily. Kike Lopez timed another perfect run and cut in from the wing with the ball but there wasn’t a white shirt in a position to finish with a goal. It got worse in the second half as Roda sensed a point was theirs to take if they just held tight. Tacon came on for the ineffective Bravo and Zazo for the tired Loro, neither made a difference to the overall picture. Aridane was added after 70 minutes, we could have done with him earlier, the 11,365 crowd had been in good voice from the start and tried to lift the players but Roda players were going down and the slightest touch and stopping the flow of the game.
Aridane had a penalty claim, the ref wasn’t impressed, at the other end Razak came to the rescue with two assertive takes from the head of Chupi. For the last five minutes Roda brought on the giant Torre up front, he looked like he could flatten all before him but Razak had the measure of him and charged him down while taking the ball cleanly. Perona needs one more goal (and promotion) to get a new contract but it wasn’t coming today. Four minutes of injury time didn’t offer a late winner and Tenerife were left to wonder how they didn’t convert any of their 17 corners into a goal.