The omens weren’t good, Aitor Sanz suspended, Ricardo and Ayoze Perez down with flu, and just before the game Loro pulled out injured. Even with those odds stacked against them, CD Tenerife looked pretty comfortable in the first half. Self inflicted defensive howlers gifted Mallorca a 2-0 home win, full backs Moyano and Raul Camara both had a mare.
The enforced changes didn’t work, Nano got his first senior start up front and worked hard with little support from the ineffective midfield. Rivero’s only contribution to the game was his corners, from one early in swinger Bruno rose to head just over the bar. Suso was back on the bench after his wonder show last week and Edgar switched sides to cover his right wing hunting ground. Aridane had a blast that went wide but the danger was growing from Mallorca with Nsue and Thomas looking menacing.The Tenerife full backs were too casual, Camara lost his footing when under pressure and Moyano looked like a novice.
The opening goal after 25 minutes came as Mallorca nipped in thee wide open back gate, as the ball sailed across the Tenerife goalmouth Marco Asencio had plenty of time to score. Camara went off after 38 minutes after pulling a muscle and was replaced by Ayoze Diaz on the left. Inigo Ros nearly served up another gift with a silly foul, he owed his team mates a beer or two for their defensive wall that stopped the free kick. Cristo closed the half with a curling shot that wasn’t too far off target. Former Tenerife hero Alfaro hit the post at the start of the second half, Roberto was decisive in charging out of his goal to punch away several chances but he got lucky when he missed completely and Thomas shot past his netting.
Aridane was having a poor game, he was even getting knocked off the ball with ease, he should have gone off when Juanjo came on as sub but Edgar got the call instead. It was all slipping away now for Tenerife and Mallorca exploited the wide open midfield to launch another attack, the ball broke to Thomas and he was lethal with his shot – game over. Finally Suso hit the pitch after 79 minutes, it was too late to make any impact and the game fizzled out. Let’s look on the bright side, no sendings off this week and we should have a full squad to pick from next Sunday at home to Ponferradina.