CD THADER – 3 NOVELDA UNION – 1
BY STEVE HIBBERD
Thader manager Adrian Pastor must have been proud of his men, for they went a long way to avenging a narrow defeat at Novelda at the end of last year. This win consolidates a mid-table position in Preferente division, in a season which has seen many highs and lows.
Inside Moi Gomez stadium, Rojales, the hosts could easily have taken the lead after only 6 mins. A delightful cross from the right found Berni at the far post, but his close-range shot was deflected for a corner.
But, only 3 mins later, they deservedly took the lead. An in-swinging corner by Ruben, found the head of man mountain Juan, from which the ball was powered into the back of the net.
Thader’s play was a joy to watch, as they made good use of the long ball, executing inch perfect passes at will. Unfortunately, it was a bad day for injuries for Thader, the first involved Dani Lucas replacing a hobbling Rulo, who hopefully will not be out for too long.
A horrendous linesman’s error on 29 mins, resulted in Novelda levelling the scores. Not only did he not spot a blatant offside out on the right wing (guilty of being behind play), but he then failed to spot a forward pass to Segura, who was also in an offside position. Segura had a simple tap in, but it was a bitter pill to swallow, considering how glaringly obvious the infringement was.
Quino almost restored Thader’s lead on 31 mins, but he headed over from a left wing cross. He did make amends on 40 mins, placing a firm header into the back of the net, from a floated cross from the right. Just before the interval, Chema pulled of a magnificent save to deny Novelda a certain goal. As a consequence, one of Novelda subs (sat in the dugout) was shown a red card for dissent, much to the delight of the partisan Thader crowd.
Rosquin forced a smart save from Lous in Novelda goal on 47 mins, as Thader searched for a 3rd goal. On the hour mark, sub Calderon appeared to be rugby tackled off the ball inside Novelda’s penalty area, but ref Calixto was unimpressed.
Shortly afterwards, Calderon’s afternoon was short lived, when he was helped off the field in pure agony, following what appeared to be damage to his elbow.
Fellow sub Jony, hammered a shot against the bar on 83 mins, before nicely setting up Pedro Juan for a routine side foot strike into an open net, 2 mins later.
Next weekend, Thader travel to rock bottom Benferri, hoping to complete a double over their near rivals. Check out CD Thader facebook page for further details.
