Espanyol and Cadiz drew 2-2 at Nuevo Mirandilla in an entertaining double-header. The locals dominated the first half and the final stretch while the white-and-blues, who again lost points due to mistakes made in the goal, failed to take advantage of Joselu’s double in the second half, when they were superior to his rival
Diego Martínez returned possession under the posts to Lecomte and kept the untouchable Joselu in front to face a Cadiz who came out to play with the usual block. The home side came out strong and almost scored in the first minute after Sobrino’s header missed the target. Espanyol was unable to intimidate Ledesma and, already in the final stretch of the first half, he saw how another mistake by his goalkeeper cost him a goal. Lecomte had a bad time rejecting a ball from Luis Hernández’s wing and Chust finished off a soft point almost with pleasure in front of a defense.
In the restart, however, the script changed. The parakeets spurred out of the dressing room, rushing to find a draw that arrived in almost five minutes. After two chances, Joselu won Chust’s back and was unforgiving with a huge header impossible for Ledesma. The game was open again and Espanyol continued to attack. Four minutes later, the white-and-blues were close to making the second, but the goalkeeper saved Cadiz again in a hand to hand with Puado. In the next one, however, she won. Edu Expósito showed quality with a good inside pass that left Joselu alone in front of the goalkeeper. There, the striker rarely misses, and he put his team in front with a crisp shot at the short post.
Espanyol had rallied and were dreaming of three points that would have been vital. But despite the dominance of the parakeet, the goal ended up falling to the home side. An interning by Pacha Espino in the Lecomte area ended with a pass to Lucas Pérez, who, arriving powerfully from behind, did not waste his teammate’s gift to tie the game. With the enthusiastic fans, Cadiz tried to make the third in the last minutes; and he would have succeeded if Lecomte had not miraculously saved an Álex Fernández shot. Luck also helped the white-and-blues when Lucas Pérez crashed a free-kick against the crossbar.
The game also left a bad aftertaste for Espanyol due to the injuries of Nico Melamed and Sergi Darder. In the absence of the results of the medical tests, the midfielder could suffer from an overload.
