CD THADER – 2 CFI ALICANTE – 2
On a cold Sunday evening back in early November, Thader can think themselves very unlucky not to have left Alicante with at least a point, when they went down 3-2 in a hugely controversial match. Fast forward to a sunny Sunday morning/afternoon in late March, when they did indeed secure a well-deserved point, against an experienced CFI side.
Before start of play, Thader sat 11th on 33 points, whilst their visitors were 6th on 45 points, some 10 points off the last play off slot. Due to fathers day forcing a blank weekend for non league football, Thader’s last run out was 2 weeks ago, at near neighbours Almoradi, in a 1-1 draw. There were 3 changes from the last match. Out went Rosquin, Calderon & Dani Lucas, to be replaced by Rulo, Quino & Berni.
An explosive start, saw Fran score a well worked goal after only 9 mins, to give the hosts an early lead. Unfortunately, the lead was short lived, for following a disputed penalty award, Chacopino made no mistake with his spot kick. Worse was to follow less than 5 mins later, when a defensive blunder was punished by Ruano, whose goal put CFI in the driving seat.
A Pedro Juan header sailed agonisingly over the bar, as Thader battled hard to square proceedings. Pedro Juan went even closer on 35 mins, but his shot hit the side netting, when it looked to all intents and purposes that it had levelled the scores. Just before half time, CFI were convinced they had extended their lead, but thankfully, it was ruled offside.
Early in the 2nd half, Pascual replaced Javi, then on the hour mark, Jony made an entrance for captain Lloyd. Jony’s first contribution was to almost present CFI with a gift, but his blushes were spared, when team mates scrambled the ball to safety. He almost made amends with a long range shot that fractionally missed the target. Next it was Fran’s turn to present CFI with a goal scoring opportunity, but once again, the danger was cleared.
Up the other end, a cross by Ruben was firmly headed over the bar by Juan. Although CFI went close with a fine long-range drive, it was Thader who made it 2-2 on 87 mins. Referee Garcia interpreted that a handball inside the CFI box was intentional, leaving Pedro Juan to coolly dispatch the resulting penalty.
Pedro could indeed have won the match deep into stoppage time, had his goal bound effort not been well saved by CFI’s keeper Pablo. As per normal there were a fair number of bookings for both sides, but that’s Spanish football for you!!
Next weekend, Thader have a long trip to 2nd place La Nucia ‘B’, and will be looking for revenge from a narrow defeat back in November. Check CD Thader facebook page for further details.
