Just the name Girona stirs emotive memories in CD Tenerife fans, today’s 2-2 draw at the scene of our 2009 promotion to the Primera was not such a landmark but for the Armada Sur it evoked cherished memories.
Watching from many diverse Tenerife bars thoughts of Karen Andrews one of our “family” who we lost this week, made us smile from that June afternoon where we shared elation and a few beers in good company. Blimey four years on one of our players Juanlu Hens had switched sides and their ground and fan base had definitely grown.
It took just seven minutes for Aridane to grab an away lead, Chechu, captain against his former team, drove the ball in and it broke kindly to our striker to finish off. Chechu looked a little over excited on his return and hit a tame shot wide after some wizardry from Ayoze to make the opening, a few minutes later he scooped his own shot over the bar. The first half ended with Gerard, looking offside, taking a pop but Roberto got down well to cover.
Roberto was having another commanding game so the manner of the equalizer was particularly cruel. Girona were having one of their best spells, Roberto dived low to parry a shot, then dived the other way to save the return, this time it rebounded into the path of Gerard for an easy goal. Coach Cevera had rested ever present defenders Moyano and Ruiz with an eye to Wednesdays derby clash and the defensive unit wasn’t quite as tight as normal, Girona mounted a big charge and Rigo with hands behind his back in that annoying modern manner, didn’t face up to Gerard and he nipped in for a 2-1 lead.
You can’t fault Tenerife’s character, they bounced back and went looking for another goal, a ball over found Bruno running into space to calmly dispatch the ball into the net. A late push for a winner saw misses for Aridane, and sub Borja was denied by a desperate sliding block from a home body. An away draw is always good and the run now goes to seven unbeaten with the Pios at home on Wednesday. CD Tenerife and the Armada Sur keep moving on – but we will always take out special memories with us.