Mejor de rosa. By Steve.

PRETTY IN PINK
FC CARTAGENA 0 LORCA DEPORTIVO 1
BY STEVE HIBBERD

Not only did Cartagena relinquish their top of the table spot, saw their unbeaten home record go up in smoke, and lost a local Murcia derby, but they did it against a team wearing a kit of all shocking pink!
Following on from a well deserved midweek point away at Real Murcia, Cartagena were hoping to improve on the previous game away to Lorca, when it finished a 1 apiece draw. Lorca started the day in 7th position, but div 2b is so tight at the top that this win has pushed them right up the table to 4th, whilst Cartagena slip to 2nd.
Inside the 1st min, it looked very much like Cartagena would be down to 10 men when Ruben appeared to bring down a Lorca player who was through on goal, but amazingly Ref Piqueres waved play on. A cross from the right wing by Txiki found Tato, but the normally reliable target man shot into the side netting after 15 mins. Lorca took the lead on 23 mins, when a delightful crossfield ball found Jairo who beat Cabrejo then Txiki, before slamming the ball into the back of the net. Two mins later, Cartagena should have levelled, but Tato headed over from Nanos cross. On the stroke of half time, Jairo almost doubled his tally, but Ruben pulled of a magnificent save to deny him.
Shouts by the Cartagena faithfully of, 'Addison, Addison, Addison', were rewarded when the skillful Brazillian striker (top scorer on 9) was brought on after 15 mins of the 2nd half. He almost scored 4 mins later, but his long range shot just eased over the bar. A minuter later, Tato headed against the post, as Cartagena began to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Frustration got the better of Cartagena coach Paco Jemez, when one too many choice comments aimed at the match officials, saw him dismissed to the stands after 68 mins. Once again, the home side nearly scored, this time Hector, but his header just evaded the far post. With 15 mins remaining, Tato rounded the keeper, but then shot wide of an empty goal, although a flag waving linesman saved his blushes. Next it was sub Viyuela whose rasping shot was well saved on 80 mins, before Addison hit the crossbar 2 mins later. Lorca so nearly doubled their lead on the stroke of full time, but sub Eloy shot wide when he really should have scored. Carmona had the last word, when into 3 mins of stoppage time, his long range shot was acrobatically tipped over by Lorcas superb keeper Orlando. All in all, Cartagena can think themselves slightly unfortunate not to have taken a point from this hard fought local derby, but Lorca are currently the divisions in form team and are looking good for a play off place. After the match I spoke to injured central defender, Liverpool loanee Miki, who tells me he is back in training from Monday, which is excellent news (luckily his English is a damn sight better than my Spanish!). On the bookings front, there were 8 in total during the match, of which 4 were from Lorca, whilst Raul, Txiki, Tato and Hector were Cartagena bad boys.
Attendance 2,500
FC CARTAGENA LINEUP
RUBEN, TXIKI, RAUL, MARIANO, CABREJO (FALCON), HECTOR, CARMONA, ARMANDO, TATO, MENA (ADDISON), NANO (VIYUELA)

Forthcoming Fixtures
On Weds 1 Apr, ko 7pm, Cartagena play their rearranged game, away to bottom of the table, Canary Islands based Playa Pajara. Then on Sun 5 Apr, ko 1200 midday, it's another local derby, when Los Albinegros visit mid table Aguilas.
For further information on FC Cartagena, please contact Steve on 656579423, or visit http://www.gotocartago.com/ or http://www.futbolclubcartagena.com/.