Alcoyano stops Amorebieta dry

Not only did Amorebieta lose after many weeks without doing so, but they also missed the goal for the second consecutive day, something that had not happened since the first dates of the championship, with the team still in full formation. This unexpected setback in the second consecutive outing of the Blues to Alicante lands leaves Amorebieta with 48 points in the table, still in the promotion play-off zone, although the situation may become more complicated depending on the results of direct rivals in the Sunday day. Next Saturday’s clash against Eldense in Urritxe is even more important than it already was.

The first bars of the meeting did not presage what came next. Amorebieta came out bossy, with clearly offensive intentions. The second minute had barely elapsed when Julen Jon, who returned to the starting lineup, combed a lateral free kick posted by Dorrio, but the ball went slightly wide. Very shortly after, the attacker on loan from Real Madrid tried it with a good volley that ended, however, in the hands of goalkeeper Bañuz.

However, before reaching ten in the game, Amorebieta took a huge jug of cold water. Armental won the bottom line, put the cross low to the front of the small area and Juanan appeared there to pull a spur shot out of his hat that surprised Jonmi, also taking advantage of the passivity of the zornotzarra defense in that action. The blow could have been even worse since in the following action the second could have fallen for Alcoyano. First Jonmi disrupted a shot from Armental himself. In the rebound, Lobato fired a missile that made the crossbar of the Biscay goal tremble when the goal was already being sung in El Collao.

From there, the most absolute nothing. Alcoyano, who Mujika had already warned in the preview that it was a team that did not take risks, closed ranks, withdrew around their area and let Amorebieta do their thing. But the blues, in a very unusual exercise in impotence, were not able to generate a single chance of minimal danger on Bañuz’s goal.

Impotence

Improving performance did not seem difficult after passing through changing rooms. And it is true that Urritxe’s men did, but they continued to lack temper, pause and precision against an Alcoyano who trusted his luck to expand his meager income against some. The Amorebieta prowled the Alicante area for many minutes and tried his luck in many ways. That effectiveness from days ago was greatly missed, in which the door was easily seen.

The first clear opportunity for the Blues did not arrive until after game time. It was in a free kick by Iker Seguín that the local goalkeeper got rid of him as best he could. The captain was about to copy the goal he scored at Urritxe a couple of weeks ago. The Eibar side was also on the verge of forcing an own goal from a corner, served very close and with all the bad intentions.

As usually happens, with Amorebieta looking for an equalizer, Alcoyano had options to score their second goal. Primi, in a point-blank shot, sent the ball over Jonmi’s goal when the easiest thing to do seemed to score. Amorebieta’s response came immediately after a header from Gorka Iturraspe near the post that Bañuz took from him with an exceptional save.

Until the end, Amorebieta was a continuous wanting and not being able to, constantly colliding face to face with the Alcoyano defense. But he did not throw in the towel at any time. And that the referee riddled him with cards in that final stretch, with five consecutive yellow cards. So much so that Murua, who had come on at 79′, was sent off at 90′ for a double booking. In the last minute of added time, Xabi Etxeita appeared as a center forward in a fleeting action that he was unable to correctly resolve before the goalkeeper left, an incident in which the Zornotzarra central defender called for a penalty that was not awarded.