SIX GOAL THRILLER AT CARTAGONOVA
FC CARTAGENA - 2 RAYO VALLECANO - 4
BY STEVE HIBBERD
In the last home match of the season, Cartagena treated their loyal fans to plenty of action, albeit more than not, it was at the wrong end of the pitch! Rayo arrived at Cartagonova Stadium in a 2 way dogfight for the div 2a championship with Real Betis, whilst for the hosts, it was purely a matter of pride that was at stake. The visitors thought they had scored after 8 mins, but the effort was ruled out for offside. Two mins later, a fierce drive by Trejo was parried by keeper Rebollo straight to Movilla, who had the simple task of side footing the ball into an empty net. Cartagena made an instant reply, for from the next attack Toche was set up by Moral, but his effort went just wide. An equalizer looked imminent, when first a Victor shot narrowly missed the target, before Botelho appeared to be hauled down in the penalty area, but all he got for his troubles was a booking for his sarcastic applauding of ref Valdes following his rejection.
Madrid based Rayo scored a 2nd goal on 35 mins - a superb piece of skill by Piti, who rounded 3 defenders (including Rebollo), before shooting into an open net. Victor reduced the deficit on 40 mins, when he expertly slotted the ball past an onrushing keeper, from just outside the box. Loud appeals for a penalty again fell on deaf ears on 55 mins, this time Victor felt suitably aggrieved when his shot hit a defenders arm, but like Botelho before him, all he got was a yellow peril. Hesitancy in defence allowed Trejo to pick up a through ball, before hammering home an unstoppable drive into the far corner from 25 yards to increase Rayo's lead. Straight from the kick off, Botelho was crudely brought down on the edge of the box, resulting in Alcaniz being shown a straight red card, leaving Rayo to play out the remaining 30 mins with only 10 men. Eventually a penalty was awarded, but it was the visitors who profited.
Following a cross from the right wing, an off the ball incident resulted in Pablo Ruiz being cautioned, before Susaeta stepped up to send Rebollo the wrong way and score his sides 4th goal. Late on, Toche had 2 good chances to score on probably his last home game for Cartagena (scouts from Ipswich Town were watching the prolific scorer), but alas both headers missed the target. SHOCK HORROR. After 32 games of drawing a blank, Goiria (aka Gloria) at long last has broke his duck. He got himself into a good position to powerfully head goal bound a well placed cross just inside near post, and although the keeper got a hand to it, he couldn't prevent the so called striker claiming his first goal for his club, although it came too late to affect the outcome.
FC Cartagena line-up Rebollo, Txiki, Mariano, Herrero (Goiria), Botelho, Toche, Longas, Moral (Lafuente), Victor, Exposito (Riga), Pablo. A visit to northern Spain (Galicia) awaits Cartagena for the last game of the season. On Sat 4 Jun, ko 8pm, Celta Vigo (who are already sure of a play off slot) aim to record a double over the men from the province of Murcia.
