Thader Rojales have had a successful work out in the form of 8 pre-season friendlies, keeping them in good stead for the start of Preferente division next weekend. Their first league match of the season is at University of Alicante next Saturday 31 August, ko 5.30 pm.
Last Tuesday evening, they made a short trip up the AP7 to 1st regional div side Catral, for their last away warm up match. A late goal by Juan secured Thader a hard earned 1-0 victory, against a side who should do well in their league.
Then on Saturday, Moi Gomez stadium played host to another 1st regional team, San Miguel. Once again entry was free to all. This was the 4th home friendly that fans were able to enjoy good football, whilst sampling food and drink from the club bar, at very little cost.
It had a frantic opening, with both sides coming close in the first 15 minutes. The deadlock was broken on 17 mins, courtesy of substitute Nino, who with only his 2nd touch received the ball on the edge of the opponents box, before rifling a shot just inside the far post.
Nino almost doubled his tally on 20 mins, carving out a good opening, before shooting agonizingly wide. Shortly afterwards it was 2-0, a deep cross found Jorge whose close range header gave the keeper no chance. Lloyd missed a great chance to increase his teams lead, before the visitors were only denied by the brilliance of Thader’s keeper on 2 occasions.
Back came Thader, Dani wasting a good chance by blasting over, then Lloyds audacious 35 yard effort just missed an open goal, as the keeper was stranded in no mans land.
I lost count of the number of bookings both sides were awarded throughout the match. What is it with Spanish referees, who fail to understand that unless a player makes a reckless challenge likely to cause injury, then why flash cards willy nilly in a friendly!
The 2nd period was a half of few chances, niggly challenges, and the introduction of many substitutes (thader actually used 3 keepers, none of whom were injured). One noteworthy moment involved Thader full back Vicente, whose superb individual effort was well saved.
With San Miguel tiring, Rafa Gomez had a goal bound shot cleared off the line, then Lloyd shooting just over with only the keeper to beat. With 5 mins of normal time remaining, a pass from Nino set up Dani to score goal no 3. A Rafa Gomez assist was squandered by Lloyd (it just wasn’t his night!), before proceedings were brought to a close.
All in all, a 3-0 victory was probably a fair reflection of the evenings play, setting up Thader nicely for their opening day fixture at Alicante University.
