With the home form dramatically improved the odd away draw would sit nicely in CD tenerife’s rising points total but at Cartegena Sicilia and Luna had a collective mare which was eventually punished for a 1-0 defeat. The centre back pairing looked like strangers and left Sergio exposed in goal in the first half, thankfully Sergio mopped up everything that came through, a 5th minute header by Toche was expertly punched away. Bertran was having one of his better games and even Beranger at left back seemed untroubled but again Sergio was left scramling to clear after 23 minutes as the central defence went missing.

Overall Tenerife performed well, Durbarbier was again industrious on the left and Kitoko looks like he has been the midfield ball winner for years rather than a recent addition. Nino (pic v Cartegena at home) looked ready to spring the offside trap at any moment and was unlucky to see his header from Bertrans cross go wide and a snap shot go straight at the home goalie. Luna’s wild lunge just before half time put Tenerife under pressure but they survived successive corners and at half time a good result looked on the cards.

Cartegena improved in the second half with toche and Victor looking dangerous but Nino was still sniffing at goal and Natalio had a weak shout for a penalty after going over. The middle road was always tempting for Cartegena and Toche picked up a clearance and darted between Luna and Sicilia and slotted the ball beyond sergio for the winning goal. Coach Tapia gave Igor his first taste of action up front but he made little impression, Kome came on and added some thrust but the home side took the points with a win that they barely deserved on the balance of play.

Everyone is in a better mood when CD Tenerife win. After this 2-1 home victory over Zerex the young ladies working the street near my bus stop flocked around me to discuss the game, good job they said, well some sort of job was mentioned. Ok maybe they weren’t bothered about foofball but I couldn’t have been happier, a convincing win and out of the relegation zone above Las Palmas, how sweet.

Tenerife looked determined from the kick off, Julio Alvarez forced an early save from a corner and Dubarbier shot high from the edge of the box. The midfield was struggling to take control despite another impressive display from Kitoto and Xerez showed they would be no pushovers. Tenerife have bags of confidence these days and stuck to their task, Julio saw his shot hit the post after 25 minutes and Bernager had an effort deflected off target. Pablo Sicilia was unable to make his interview with me last week and I joked that he owed me a goal, blimey he certainly delivered, Julio swung in a corner and Pablo was there waiting to score his 5th goal of the season, this time with his foot rather than another header.

The second half opened with Sergio Aragoneses looking sharp to turn aside a Redondo shot for a corner but Tenerife were soon pushing forward. Pablo was sniffing around in the box when Bermejo fouled him and the referee awarded a penalty. Hidalgo was cool as he stepped up and easily converted the kick for a 2-0 lead. Even in these improved times, lapses in concentration can prove costly for Tenerife, just a few minutes after the penalty Xerez broke and Cordero found a clear route on the left before slotting the ball in the corner of the home net. That could have marked the way back for Xerez, Sergio produced another superb save, this time from Vega, Capi also came close but Tenerife held on for a deserved win. Despite the Friday night scheduling for television, another 16,545 crowd was able to savour the winning feeling. Tuesday there is a tricky game at Cartegena but Tenerife will be confident of pulling away from the trap door.

This should have been a useful goal less away draw for CD Tenerife but with 2 minutes left a well taken Celta Vigo goal was poor reward for a strong disciplined display by the visitors. There was an enforced change in the centre of defence with Melli slotting in to replace the suspended Pablo Sicilia who joined the Armada Sur down at The Royal Oak in Las Americas.

Celta are a good side and worthy of their second place in the table, they started strongly and gave Tenerife plenty of problems, with former Pio Trashorras threatening to be the spoiler. The turning point came after 20 minutes when a Celta raid became a mad goalmouth scramble, a home player swung a boot and missed but it was still goal bound when Melli scooped it off the line. A few minutes later Dubarbier latched onto a through ball and ran on to score but the referee called it offside and there were few complaints from the Tenerife players.

Nino had a couple of decent chances but couldn’t make them count and at half time it didn’t look a bad scoreline. Melli had a good header saved early in the first half, Kitoko was again looking speedy and strong but after a sending off in his first game he left this time with an injury. At least his departure marked the return of Mikel Alonso (pic) but Tenerife lacked a bit of inspiration up front and a draw looked almost certain. Celta showed their class in the dying moments as a defence splitting pass found Michu who finished with ease to grab the win. As the goal went in our guest Pablo Sicilia must have learned a few new interesting English words, he will return to action for Friday nights home game with Xerez.

Roses Are Red

Chicharreros Are Blue

Vallecano Score One

But CD Tenerife Score Two

This was the big test of the new look CD Tenerife, following last weeks great win at Salamanca the Segunda Division leaders came to Santa Cruz and to be honest pre match most of us would have settled for a draw. Coach Tapia had other ideas and for the first half the home side more than matched their opponents. Left back Beranger had a rare goal chance after 7 minutes but it wt that as not enough to test Rayo’s Cobeño in goal. The Madrid based team were big and strong and Tenerife didn’t help themselves at time by giving the ball away too easily. Dubarbier gets better with each game on the left but was always looking over his shoulder to make sure Beranger was covering at full back and after 20 minutes Dubarbier picked up a booking for hand ball stopping a Rayo break away.

Dani Kome was making good progress down the right side but was wrestled to the ground several times, or were they pre Valentines cuddles? TV giants Canal Plus were the reason for the 11am kick off and at our end it was noticeable that the camera operators were women, what on earth would Andy Gray have to say about that! Going into the break it was level and goal less with good reason to enjoy the hot sunshine but it’s all about goals. Rayo aren’t top for nothing and had plenty of fire power but returning home keeper Sergio Aragoneses was on top form easily taking a Piti free kick just after the interval.

With 62 minutes gone Arribas handled in the box and the referee pointed to the spot, Hidalgo stepped up and fired it in for the lead (above) but the fussy ref called an infringement and ordered a retake.Hidalgo kept his nerve and sent the keeper the wrong way (below) to delight the home fans. There was better to come as Nino won the ball to the left of the goal area and lobbed it delicately, it hung in the air but eventually arched down into the goal, a superb bit of skill.

Tenerife had to withstand a Rayo fightback, Sergio was masterful punching clear as Piti bore down on Bertran and luck was on our side as Rayo hit a post and the shot pinged back onto the legs of Pablo Sicilia but rebounded just past the post. Time was ticking away when the ref threw a spanner in the works, calling Sicilia for a push in the box and awarded a penalty to Rayo, Armenteros scored and the four minutes of injury time were sheer agony especially as Gomez had a clear last gasp shot but could only direct it into Sergio’s hands. The whistle was greeted with joyous celebration, apart from the near 200 Rayo fans on the upstairs tier above our home stronghold, how did security let them get in there?

Thankfully a happy ending but it doesn’t get any easier with 2nd placed Celta Vigo away next week and the aftermath of another 6 bookings bound to disrupt the starting line up. On the plus side big new striker Igor has still to taste action and even sweeter, Tenerife are now just one point behind the Pios.

…Are there enough double entendres in that title? If you think I’m being rude, shame on you, all will be revealed phnarr phnarr. A funny thing happened on the way to the bus stop today. It was an early start for me from Los Cristianos to Adeje to cover the European Day of 112, the emergency service here in Tenerife as in most of Europe. Getting on the bus there was the usual little scrum down when suddenly a second driver sat up front on his way to the station leant out and shouted at people to hold their bags tight and gestered at 2 men in the middle of the melee. The Titsa bus driver then pulled out his mobile and rang the police as these 2 men made their melted away from the scrum.

There has been some problem with pick pockets at the Los Cristianos main bus stops and this observant driver had recognised the 2 culprits and did all he could to warn people. The chancers got away but it’s good to know that someone is looking out for us, often there are now plain clothes police patrolling the area and they have nabbed quite a few scum bags. All very appropriate as the 112 event  I was headed to included representatives from nearly all branches of the Tenerife police force as well as ambulance, fire and rescue staff. It was a fabulous show and tell morning with pride of place going to a government rescue helicopter that had the many school kids attending spellbound. The climax, oh there goes Finbarr again, was a reconstruction of an emergency car rescue involving the chopper dropping in medical staff and air lifting the dummy passenger. You can read a full account af that at Tenerife Magazine.

Back with the buses and lots of changes going on, you may have noticed the new stream lined bus stops reflecting the new logo on the buses with no emission exhausts. There is also a new timetable so throw away those old fold out map formats and pick up the new booklet style, damm it’s too tall to fit into my shorts pocket, no consideration. Titsa have also taken delivery of a fleet of new mini buses for short hops around urban areas and hope to have the new La Laguna station open by Easter.

The 112 open event finished at 2 pm, before the word got around that today would be a good day to go on a crime spree elsewhere. I was long overdue a trip up to T3 – Tenerife Top Training in La Caleta to see what was cooking up there so headed across on the bus. You may recall that T3 was were Robinho did a bunk from his Man City team mates a couple of seasons ago, hope they come back soon, be worth it to see Tevez sat in the scorching Tenerife heat still wearing his snood. The football pitches are just a part of the complex, the swimming pools are used a lot by Olympic swimming teams and many a top athlete has used their state of the art gym to pump some iron. It was pretty quiet for my visit, just a few rippling the water and some keen volleyball players kicking up the sand on the beach area. Hopefully I will get a nod next time a big name football team takes a break at T3.

There was no early church service for the Armada Sur, honest we would have, it was mid morning as we emerged from our after celebration slumbers, you can’t let a 2-1 away win in Salamanca go unmarked. First shock of the day, if you ignore the horrendous hangovers, was finding that Gordon (AKA The Moron) had fallen over (damm unsteady those local streets) the night before and had paid a visit to the hospital for 4 stitches above his eye. That was in the second group across town, myself and Andy did a zombie walk down the road from the hotel for a coffee at a service station but both found a chocolate pastry too much to stomach and left them part chewed. At least we managed a chuckle as we found a bizarre statue to pose with, clearly someone had more warped minds than us.

The General turned up in reception looking like Keith Richards on a bad day and we headed into town to meet the others, obviosly we didn’t mock our injured comrade Gordon in any way at all, even if he looked like Rocky 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. All safely gathered aboard the trusty mini bus we set off for Madrid with a half way stop at Avila penciled in. There had been some suggestion of taking in a Tercera Division game in the small historic town but with an eye on seeing the Chelsea v Liverpool game in Madrid we just took a meal break.

Avila is stunning, a medieval fortress wall embraces the town and after food we drove inside the battlements and had a quick poke around the plaza (above) and cathedral. One of the big pluses of popping over to CD Tenerife away games is the chance to taste some of Spain’s history, the cathedral was built in 1095 and is surrounded by a pride of stone lions. Looking up to the buttress’s I could see and hear large storks that had nested on the turrets, they were huge, no use offering them a bag of crumbs and a bit of bacon fat, they looked capable of swooping down and stealing a small child – we kept a close eye on The General.

The wheels of the bus were soon going round and round again as we neared Madrid close to kick off on the TV game, The General headed to the hotel after dropping us off near a Metro (underground) station. It just happened to be by Real Madrid’s impressive Bernabeu Stadium, DJ Johnny looked a little conspicuous in a CD Tenerife track suit top but it was several hours before Madrid’s home game with Real Sociedad – and no I wasn’t even tempted to go. Madrid is a great city and the Metro is just one euro for any journey, we had to change at Tribunal and Johnny our resident scouser peeled off to watch the match with the Madrid Reds at their Cavern look alike, The Tavern. The rest of us emerged at Sol, the city centre Metro stop and took the side street to our regular haunt the O Connell Street Bar, a big popular sports bar where the order of the day is a bucket of Coranita beers packed in ice and large baskets of crisps to tuck into.

Liverpool’s win merged into another victory for the local white menace, then with a ridiculously early wake up in mind and Johnny back with a contented look on his face, we adjourned to the local kebab house for a suitably greasy nosh up. This is another part of the Madrid ritual in a food house that features a large painting of a horse on the wall – they didn’t did they? Time for a bus back to our Hotel Torre Laguna, and like the Metro the bus was also just one euro. I grabbed a couple of late beers at the bar before kipping down for just over 3 hours only to rise like a zombie for our return trip to the airport to return the minibus and pile onto the plane. A gorgeously sunny Tenerife morning welcomed our return to the island blinking in the light like pit ponies that hadn’t gone to Specsavers. Good company, good fun and good grief a win, now for the rest of the season.

Like a bizarre new version of the A Team the Armada Sur minibus inched its way out of Madrid airport car park, B.A and the boys would have been making impressive weapons out of scratch but we would have settled for working out how to open the windows. Never mind, it was cold outside so we settled for snug and warm as we headed up north to the snowy hills on the way to Salamanca. The two and a half hours trip passed pretty quickly especially after we loaded up with beer at a petrol station stop, it was like christmas for them as we plundered the expensive cans soaked up with nosebags of crisps and doughnuts – well it’s good to have a balanced diet.

We had alaready lost Tolf at the airport, his residencia was out of date and a couple of hundred euros to book a new flight would have dwarfed the mere 10 euros we paid for the Ryanair return trip. There was a hopeful mood as the snow in the Salamanca fields became deeper and the mountain range glistened in the sun. Arriving an hour before the game we headed straight for the ground, parked up and hit the nearby bar, it was small and basic but we spilled outside as more and more CDT fans joined the pre match jolly with some good natured locals enjoying our songs and antics.

It got a lot colder inside the ground but we had a good spot just behind the goal close to the pitch with just a few stewards seperating the near 200 Tenerife fans from the touchline. It was an encouraging start, Bertran looked more comfortable and tested the home side early on with a raid down the right. Salamanca had lost 8 games on the bounce but surprised us with Moraton heading home after 25 minutes, making the most of a hesitant defence. Kitoko was making his debut in the holding midfield slot and looked strong and purposeful but Luis Garcia in goal had a few juggling moments to keep us on our toes. Pablo Sicilia is on hot form and on the half hour he rose majestically to head in an equaliser, bringing a noisy response from the travelling chicharreros.

Tenerife looked more confident and had the better of the second half, Alvarez came close to beating Bernabe in the home goal and Natalio wasted the best chance of the game. New striker Igor was on the bench but coach Tapia was in no hurry to use him, Sicilia is revlling in his new role as a goal scorer and after a poor attempt to clear from a corner launched himself at the ball and headed it into the net. The home fans turned on their team and coach as our fans grew louder with the players clearly enjoying the support. Salamanca responded by bringing on ex Pio Marcos Marquez, my how we enjoyed taunting him, even better as he was clearly riled by it. Holding on to a lead has been a problem and when Kikoto was sent off for a second yellow card after 79 minutes every tenerife bum was squeaking. Coach Tapia clamped down the defence by bringing on Melli and Juanlu for Alvarez and Nino and it did the trick, the final whistle spawned a crescendo of noise from our blue and white sector as the players and Canarian media flocked to share our joy.

Leaving the stadium in full cry we were rudely interupted by a small gang of home nutters armed with flares and home made batons but thankfully they were repelled by our more vigilant fans. Even that could’t dampen the mood, we regrouped and caught our mini bus to the Hotel Recoletos for a quick check in, change of clothes and out on the town. On the way in earlier we had already been impressed with the beauty of the viaducts general layout of Salamanca and with our local guide Juanma we combined sight seeing with drinking. It’s a big student city and had a vibrant feel to it, Plaza Mayor was a wonderful ornate and stylish centre piece and provided a great first floor window view froma posh bar restaurant where we watched the Barcelona game. A tour around the back streets around the cathedral impressed us all even in our lubricated state. Karen needed a toilet stop so we dived into a small non descript bar only to find it bouncing with Tenerife fans.

We knew this was the place for us as our feet stuck to the floor and they played some fine tunes including The Smiths. By this stage our original group had fragmented with some relocating nearer to Juanma’s family home. It was around 3am that I headed back to the hotel via a kebab shop, well we had to eat eventually. Poor Andy my room mate was serenaded by my gold medal snoring as I went into an instant sleep, elsewhere the night still had more surprises.

In a storming finish CD Tenerife grabbed an injury time 3-3 home draw with Girona to lift them off the bottom of the Segunda Division on goal difference, but they shouldn’t have needed rescuing. Defensive changes were forced on coach Tapia as Luna, Beranger and Melli served supensions, in came Bellvis at left back with Prieto and Sicilia filling the central roles.

What a start Tenerife made, Nino tested the Girona keeper twice in the first few minutes, the second effort had the keeper fumbling to hold on to the ball. Just 14 minutes in and Alvarez corner was met sweetly by Sicilia for a desrved lead. Nino is always a whirlwind but even by his standards he was blowing strong forcing the keeper to block and then having 2 close encounters in quick succession. It was all CD Tenerife but after 25 minutes they relaxed again not heeding previous slip ups. Girona came into the game and Jandro set up Despotovic who finished cleanly.Tenerife should have brought it level again but kome’s deft touch to Ricardo completely confused the midfielder who looked like he had never seen a ball before.

The worries were back, the Tenerife midfield was soft and generous and the same combination worked their magic again with Despotovic slipping the ball into the corner of the net. Half time was as grey and depressing as the weather but worse was to come. Just after the restart Sergio dashed out of his goal to stop Despotovic from completing his hat trick and handled the ball outside his area for a red card. Tapia sacrificed Bellvis to bring on goalie Luis Garcia with Juanlu dropping into the left back slot. Garcia lasted 10 minutes with little to do before Chechu easily evaded 3 defenders before giving former home player Kiko an easy finish for a 3-1 lead. Some fans started to head for the exits but their lack of loyalty meant they missed a quick reply, Hidalgo dug in and made an opening for Nino to give renewed hope.

At last Tenerife hit top gear, Dubarbier came on for Juanlu at left back and again showed what a good signing he is, prompting a series of threatening attacks. Garcia had nothing to do as Tenerife lay siege to the other half of the pitch, Nino was unlucky with a couple of shots as the game dragged into injury time. Then with time evaporating Alvarez unlocked the Girona defence and Nino was on hand to plunder the equaliser for a desperately needed point.

It was still a case of what could have been, just 3 points from the 4 January home games is a paltry return but it’s time to move on into February with hopefully at least one new player. Big forward Igor de Souza from Segunda B Pontevedra was at the game and is having a medical as I write. The crowd of 14,148 showed amazing support for a 3rd home game in a week and the Armada Sur had the usual 2 coaches including the Barnsley Babes (photo). The last Tenerife win was in November at Villareal so it’s time for another, this time at Salamanca next Saturday, I will be there for the Armada Sur weekend away and hope to bring back 3 points.

What do you do in Tenerife when it rains? People on Tenerife Holidays would be surprised if they knew the full extent of possibilities. For me it meant a day up in Santa Cruz chasing my arts, I seem to be almost living there this week with 3 home games on the football but on those trips there isn’t much time for exploring anything more than the bar. A bright start in Los Cristianos enticed me to travel without a coat and half way up the motorway the rain was lashing against the Titsa bus, oh well I had indoor destinations so would dodge the spots. First stop was the Robert Capa retrospective at Caja Canarias HQ in Plaza del Patriotismo.

Capa was a famous war photographer who covered 5 major wars and defined history through his lens, this was an exhibition I had been looking forward to. I’d never class myself as a photographer, I just take photos to back up my written work so I have great respect for those with the real talent and Capa was the best. I paid my 2 euros residents entry price to get in, they could have given me a freebie as I had my CD Tenerife shirt on with Caja Canarias emblazoned on the chest but maybe the ticket man was a Madrid fan. Anyway once inside I was soon engrossed in the 98 black and white portraits and impressed with his style described as so close to the action you can feel the ground shake. Tunisia has been in the news lately due to civil upheavel, some of Capa’s pics showed Tunisia during the Second World War fighting, sadly some things remain constant in the world. I won’t go into depth on the Capa exhibition as I have done a feature on Tenerife Magazine but I recomend you go and have a look before it ends on 12 March.

It’s been a few months since I visited TEA and as the Tenerife Espacio de Las Artes has a steady turnover of exhibitions I knew I would find new stimulation. On a rather dull afternoon the packed study area in the library shone out as I walked down the entrance ramp, paying my 2.50 residents entry (5 euros otherwise) I decided to take it logically and start with Sala A the first of the halls made up of several interlocing rooms. The main show was El Cuerpo Inventado (the invented body) with some typically unusual looks at the human body including this nifty hat on a leg (tempted to say kneecap). A smaller exhibition inside was Si Quebro El Cantaro, a look at child abuse through art, full of distorted nightmare images drawn mainly by children.

The TEA building is as much a star as the exhibits, it’s modern and very stylish, the library is huge with plenty of comfy areas to research or go through the large newspaper and magazine section. On previous visits the cafe has been closed but I was in luck and gave it a try, pretty standard snacks but the empty chalkboard still had the heading Menu del Dia so maybe they do offer something more substantial to feed the body as well as the mind. Anyway back to Sala B and Era Asi, No Era Asi from Lanzarote artist Juan Gopar, something of a beachcomber the rooms re-used driftwood and waste to add vibrant colours and shapes to discarded objects including a complete beach shack. As I walked around I could hear the rain pounding on the roof and through the brick sized windows could see Barranco Santos flooded and racing by in a brown sludgy hurry.

There’s one thing you could never accuse TEA of, playing safe, it’s a great champion to new artists and is always open to the unusual and downright bizarre. Sala C has been split into 7 workshop areas for resident artists under the title Arterias Visuales. Each has been given a small grant for materials and is free to develop their ideas, only one artist was actually at work and I was intriqued to read on her bio she has a Master in Sexology from Madrid – put me down for lots of homework. Some of the projects hadn’t got much beyond the scribbled design stage but a few had assembled some pieces like this pink creation. It’s an 11 week experiment so maybe I will get to see some end products and have a chat with the sexologist.

After 2 good hours I felt lifted, challenged and in some cases baffled but certainly happy that Santa Cruz has such a wonderful art space – even if there are hardly ever more than a handful of visitors. My challenge for the afternoon was to get to the bus station without looking like a drowned rat, I achieved it at least in part.

Endangered and almost extinct, the rare Crested Dorada Bird is nesting in the back of one of the CD Tenerife goals safe in the knowledge that it will not be disturbed. CD Tenerife have failed to score this season in the Grada Popular end, noisy home to the Armada Sur and many of the other peñas and despite Tenerife netting twice in last nights 2-2 home draw with Granada, that sad statistic continues.

So much for the week of 3 home games, the points are slipping away and new coach Antoino Tapia is probably wondering what he has walked into. Leading 2-1 against 10 men, Tenerife wasted a golden chance in this game in hand, re-arranged after the air traffic controllers strike meant Granada couldn’t make the original fixture. It was a pig of a night, raining and chilly and that was refected in the 11,146 crowd, I even had to dig out my coat for the evening – wish I’d taken my snood.

There was an improvement in the first half, play was crisper with the ball on the ground more and earlier crosses pinging in. Juanlu and Alvarez started in place of Natalio and Kome and Hidalgo had one of his best games in a home shirt. Granada have done well this season and were sitting in 8th place and showed their class after 15 minutes when Benitez curled a perfect free lick past Sergio in the Tenerife goal. It was soon all square when 5 minutes later Alvarez set up Hidalgo who took his chance well prompting a strong spell from the Santa Cruz side. For once Tenerife got a decent break when Orellana picked up his second booking after 30 minutes and was sent off, Tenerife made it count almost immediately with Alvarez finishing off a good move to take the lead.

The second half saw old errors creep back into the home play and Nino was again struggling alone up front, a headed chance went begging underlining the need for another option in front of goal. It was tense stuff, the Granada keeper teased with some sloppy moments and Natalio and Kome took to the pitch for Bertran and Omar. The equaliser was a soft goal from Calvo, Sergio seemed to be comfortable with his shot but but it evaded him to tie the match. Tenerife finished strongly, Natalio looked through but the visiting keeper came good and a scramble in the area just needed a touch but neither Nino or Kome could connect. A draw clawed back a point on the other relegation candidates but with just days left on the transfer window we still live in hope of at least 2 more players.