CF LA NUCIA ‘B’ – 2 CD THADER – 1
BY STEVE HIBBERD
A late Sunday night ko at high flying La Nucia ‘B’, resulted in a fruitless long trip back to Rojales for the boys in blue and white. Second place La Nucia look set to bounce back to Tercera division at the first attempt.
Back in mid November at Formentera (Moi Gomez stadium was undergoing a pitch resurfacing at the time), the whiz kids from La Nucia snatched a late dramatic winner in a 2-1 victory. And guess what – they only went and did it again!!
During the week, Rojales town hall awarded CD Thader the medal of honour, to commemorate their centenary year. There were 3 changes from the previous match, a 2-2 home draw against CFI Alicante.
In came Rosquin, Pascual & Juan, at the expense of Miguel, Rulo & Quino, who all dropped to the bench.
Inside 4 mins, Nando put the ball the wrong side of the post, as La Nucia looked dangerous from the outset. But, on 15 mins, Thader struck back, when Fran let fly with a 30-yard screamer that went fractionally over the bar.
Nando thought he had put the hosts ahead on 23 mins, but an eagle-eyed linesman spotted an offside infringement. Rosquin was the next player to try his luck, when his 25-yard drive was well saved by La Nucia keeper Fer. Against the run of play, on 31 mins, a speculative long-range effort by Steven, struck the back of the net, with Thader keeper Chema rooted to the spot.
Then, with time ticking away towards the half time interval, Thader’s own youthful super star Rosquin, received a crossfield pass, took the ball in his stride, before sliding it under a powerless keeper.
As in the first half, La nucia started the new half strongly. Chema had to be at his best to deny the impressive Rodri a certain 2nd goal for La Nucia on 55 mins. Then from the resultant corner, only a header off the line kept the scores level.
On the hour mark, Monerris beat the offside trap, but when faced with a 1 against 1, he blasted over the bar, much to the relief of the few travelling Thader fans. Ruben executed a superb volley from 25 yards on 71 mins, which was well saved by Fer.
La Nucia took the lead on 73 mins. A cross from the left by Augustin was inch perfect to the feet of Pablo, who made light work of slamming the ball into an unguarded net. Credit must go to the match ref who controlled the match sensibly, choosing not to caution a player until the 82nd min, which has to be some sort of record for Spanish Preferente div football.
On Sun 16 Apr, ko 1130, Thader will be hosting Novelda UCF inside Moi Gomez Stadium, Rojales. Thader currently lie 12th on 34 points, whilst Novelda sit in 14th place, so it should be an evenly matched encounter.
