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Post by bringbacklenwhite on Jan 31, 2023 9:36:21 GMT
Thought we had lost our correspondent in Southern Spain.
Glad to see you back Duds.
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Post by dudleyhatter on Jan 31, 2023 18:26:49 GMT
So what happened in the next two matches… well last weekend saw the Marineros sail our way up to Jaén to take on the league leaders where a victory for ourselves and failure to win for Marbella could have seen us move to the top of the table…
I think we all know this script! League leaders with a 100% home record having just conceded once all season on their own turf. Torre del Mar did their part and held Marbella to a draw. Sadly the form book did not lie and we fell to a 2-0 defeat in their magnificent ten thousand seater stadium. This left us five points adrift of the leaders and three behind Marbella and just three ahead of Torre del Mar.
Rolling on to the weekend just gone, Saturday saw Torre Del Mar beat Motril (they of Marple twinning fame!) 1-0 at home and therefore move level with ourselves although behind on goal difference. Sunday saw my first game of the year home to second placed Marbella, a local(ish) derby. Saturday saw them announce a new ten thousand seater stadium to be built within the next two years. Our modest one thousand capacity ground does not have the expansion space for that! Last season’s encounter was feisty on the pitch and in the stands with a familiar angry roar of aggression at one point from the other end of the stand we sit in! Marbella, like Real Jaén, are well supported and the crowd was the biggest I have been in since I started following El Palo. I would estimate around 650/700. Two of our group were hurtling towards Madrid at 294kmh as we kicked off but they had been replaced by other colleagues coming for a taste!!
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Post by dudleyhatter on Feb 1, 2023 20:59:48 GMT
So onto the game itself, we started well with decent possession and moved the ball confidently from side to side. From a long free kick in the ninth minute the ball was cleared to the edge of the box where a clumsy challenge gave us a penalty. Softish but we couldn’t see the edge of the box clearly and not too many complaints from them. Up steps Acosta and blasts it away up the middle. One nil and much cheering, although where we were sat not quite so much as we were surrounded by away fans! Unfortunately just two minutes later with our defence still celebrating the goal Marbella walked through the middle of the defence and equalised. This time there was more noise in our immediate surroundings at the number of Marbella fans became visibly clear! Somewhere between one and two hundred by my estimate. Being of more money than ourselves the visitors’ fans also wanted their team to be more pampered. Not a luxury you receive in El Palo! Thus every challenge from the home side, which the unusually lenient referee was allowing, was greeted by a roar and loud applause from the El Palo ingles family! Just to let them know whose house they were in! In the rest of the half, the game moved along in an interesting manner with good play from both sides both going forwards and in defence, although at half time we struggled to remember any actual saves either keeper had to make. At this point the ground staff felt it necessary to close the gates leading to the pitch… The second half saw us start strongly and within six minutes after a strong run from a defensive midfield position Destiny fulfilled his name and slotted home to restore the home advantage. Good play followed for both sides including ourselves striking the post and the most dangerous moments for El Palo came in the last ten minutes when we made changes at the back to secure the points. But secure them we did! Thus we have moved level on points with Marbella although our goal difference is +12 to their +16. At the same time as our game Jaén we’re taking on the Macarena but got their dance steps wrong and managed to pull back a late draw. Those dropped two points mean that both ourselves and Marbs are only two points behind, although with goal difference of +27 it is effectively three! Torre del Mar are still in the place just three points behind and having taken four points from Jaén and Marbella since Christmas are in good form. They come to us in two weeks time…
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Post by gazz on Feb 2, 2023 7:10:37 GMT
So onto the game itself, we started well with decent possession and moved the ball confidently from side to side. From a long free kick in the ninth minute the ball was cleared to the edge of the box where a clumsy challenge gave us a penalty. Softish but we couldn’t see the edge of the box clearly and not too many complaints from them. Up steps Acosta and blasts it away up the middle. One nil and much cheering, although where we were sat not quite so much as we were surrounded by away fans! Unfortunately just two minutes later with our defence still celebrating the goal Marbella walked through the middle of the defence and equalised. This time there was more noise in our immediate surroundings at the number of Marbella fans became visibly clear! Somewhere between one and two hundred by my estimate. Being of more money than ourselves the visitors’ fans also wanted their team to be more pampered. Not a luxury you receive in El Palo! Thus every challenge from the home side, which the unusually lenient referee was allowing, was greeted by a roar and loud applause from the El Palo ingles family! Just to let them know whose house they were in! In the rest of the half, the game moved along in an interesting manner with good play from both sides both going forwards and in defence, although at half time we struggled to remember any actual saves either keeper had to make. At this point the ground staff felt it necessary to close the gates leading to the pitch… The second half saw us start strongly and within six minutes after a strong run from a defensive midfield position Destiny fulfilled his name and slotted home to restore the home advantage. Good play followed for both sides including ourselves striking the post and the most dangerous moments for El Palo came in the last ten minutes when we made changes at the back to secure the points. But secure them we did! Thus we have moved level on points with Marbella although our goal difference is +12 to their +16. At the same time as our game Jaén we’re taking on the Macarena but got their dance steps wrong and managed to pull back a late draw. Those dropped two points mean that both ourselves and Marbs are only two points behind, although with goal difference of +27 it is effectively three! Torre del Mar are still in the place just three points behind and having taken four points from Jaén and Marbella since Christmas are in good form. They come to us in two weeks time… Fantastic, Duds - well played, the boys!
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Post by bringbacklenwhite on Feb 2, 2023 9:34:42 GMT
Tight at the top as they say.
Great report. Loving the name Destiny. Glad you enjoyed it.
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Post by gazz on Feb 2, 2023 22:24:13 GMT
Tight at the top as they say. Great report. Loving the name Destiny. Glad you enjoyed it. Agreed on both, Banksy. What a fantastic name that is, and these reports really are an enjoyable read. Keep them coming, Duds!
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Post by ceefer on Feb 3, 2023 11:10:13 GMT
Thanks for the updates hombre! Good to read and who knows what's around the corner.
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Post by dudleyhatter on Feb 5, 2023 19:59:38 GMT
So how was it to be for El Palo playing against the might of Motril/Marple? Well let’s get to them in due course! On Saturday fourth place Torre Del Mar hosted Malaga City knowing a victory would move them level with ourselves and Marbella and just three behind the leaders. Relegation threatened MCFC were unable to trouble the home side and succumbed to a 2-0 defeat which left them second bottom of the table. Poor old Huracán Melilla are definitely not taking the league by storm as they sit bottom of the table gaining four points and goals scored in twenty matches with sixty conceded. Next up Sunday lunchtime when ourselves and Marbella take to the field to try and catch the leaders. Motril being further east gave us a fifteen minute head start in the matches. The home side had a change of sporting director at the end of January and a flurry of new players have arrived to help them fight the drop. Despite having good pressure for the first half, including hitting the post, we were unable to crack open the Motril defence. This meant that we remained in third and they remained third from bottom. Surely both sides would go for it in the second half! Well not if you are Motril as they failed to register a shot on target in the entire game as our back line, with two January additions, held resolute throughout the game. What about the at the other end of the pitch? Could El Palo produce something to break the home supporters hearts? Just two minutes after the break Esteban made a driving run through the middle and played in Ito, who rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into the empty net! Vamooooooossssss. The rest of the game was spent holding Motril at bay with relative ease and trying to catch on them on the counter attack. Final score 0-1 now level on points with table topping Real Jaén. Over to Marbella who were taking on the Maracena team who danced to a point against the leaders last week. Sadly they could not perform a miracle twice and fell to a 4-0 Marbella goal difference boosting defeat. Now all three level at the top with ourselves on +13 and Marbella on +20.
What about the late kick in Jaén? Could the local clash against the athletic porcupines of Porcuna who had inflicted a 2-0 defeat on the leaders at home cause a headache for the royals? Well in short no! A seven - one thrashing means that after twenty games Real Jaén are three points clear with a goal difference of +33. There are still ten games to play so it remains wide open, but next week’s clash against fourth placed Torre del Mar is a massive match now! Some colleagues live in Torre del Mar as it is only 20 miles from El Palo and will be coming as away fans to add a more personal edge!
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Post by bringbacklenwhite on Feb 5, 2023 20:16:52 GMT
Great report Duds. Sounds very exciting
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Feb 5, 2023 21:23:55 GMT
From Motril/Marple to Torre del Marple, eh? Keep going, boys!
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Post by gazz on Feb 5, 2023 21:42:03 GMT
This really does seem like it is going down to the wire, Duds, the boys just need to stay within striking distance and I'm sure they can win this!
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Post by dudleyhatter on Feb 11, 2023 17:42:35 GMT
So tomorrow sees the mighty El Palo approach their third six pointer in four matches, having played against the top two home and away with home sides winning all four games. Next up is fourth placed Torre del Mar whom we defeated early on in the season and so victory on Sunday will move us six points clear and for a few hours at least second in the table. Real Jaén play at the same time as us away to Elvis’ Huétor Vegas and Marbella are away to the athletic porcupines who got hammered last week by Jaén, let’s hope for a bounce back performance from them!
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Post by gazz on Feb 11, 2023 19:23:47 GMT
Good luck to the boys for tomorrow, Duds!
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Feb 11, 2023 20:38:54 GMT
¡Vamos, Paleños!
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Post by dudleyhatter on Feb 13, 2023 21:47:06 GMT
And so onto Sunday lunchtime. A decent gate, less than against Marbella but still a good number of travelling support. We were in fact sat next some of the technical staff of the opposition and it was interesting to here them advising players on what to do and when. The dug outs are on the opposite side! Onto the game which started at a high pace without any real danger for the first ten minutes then a quick give and go triangle down their right hand side exposed our left back fortunately the winger sliced his effort dreadfully high and wide. We played well and moved the ball along the floor without really looking too dangerous amounting to only one shot that was more like a back pass! It soon became clear that, the only tactic that Torre del Mar had was to hoof it for their speedy striker to chase. Distinct throwback vibes to the crazy gang of the 80s. It doesn’t make for better viewing 40 years on. This sensation was aided by an extremely lenient referee who allowed some particularly crunching tackles (and fouls!) go unpunished. As we moved towards half time there was a definite feeling that one goal will win this. Still goalless at the break as even the old trick of sending one of our group to the bar failed! Half time saw one change for us as the ineffective Acosta was swapped for Ito. A popular choice amongst our group as he seems to bring little to the game. We continued as before pressing and playing better football and they became even more restricted in their efforts. Would we get the goal we needed? We took off a striker and put on a defensive midfielder, this did however free Destiny from his defensive duties to run at their defence. This change in dynamic allowed us to create more chances without looking like converting. Tick tick went the clock… On 76 minutes our new Brazilian centre midfield (free) signing was getting ready to enter the fray. Destiny doesn’t wait for anyone and he scored from close range before the change happened! Despite the goal, the change was still made and with one of his first touches João played a ball through from midfield into the run of Roberto Sierra. Within four minutes we had a two nil lead! For the last couple of months the football has been of a lower standard with less fluency and vibrancy in the performances however this was more like the early stages of the season. The team were charging forward and every time had us out of our seats. João had a shot from distance that the keeper pushed onto the post; two dangerous runs into the box were somehow blocked. On eighty five minutes Fran Gallego replaced Destiny, within a minute he had the ball in the net - only to be denied by a raised flag, although those more in line than us were not impressed! As the ninetieth minute arrived, we had a corner and, whilst looking towards the manager, I saw him signal to the players a switch type movement with his hands. The players responded well and Awana buried a header. Three nil final score!! This victory puts us six points clear of Torre del Mar with forty five points from twenty one games. Sadly both Real Jaén and Marbella managed victories so we have the same points as Marbella with a goal difference six behind them. We are three behind Jaén and just the eighteen on goal difference!
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