Elche 0 Villarreal 1 (Monday 4th November)
Getafe 1 Elche 1 (Saturday 9th November)
It’s been a hard five days for Elche, but a valuable away point counts for a lot in these early stages of the season. On Monday evening fourth-placed Villarreal came to the City of Palms, and although the Illicitanos didn’t deserve to win, they didn’t deserve to lose either. Strangely for the first time for ages quicksilver Coro didn’t start upfront, coming on halfway through the second half, his replacement Aaron.
In the first half Manu del Moral flashed his header against the bar which could have put Elche ahead, but Villarreal had their moments too, looking especially dangerous on the break. They are a very competent side with few weaknesses and for the Franjiverdes to hold them, stop them from scoring, and make chances against them was an excellent performance.
Half-way through the second half centreback and defensive rock David Lomban had to go off injured and on came one of last season’s heroes Peligrin to replace him – and he played well.
But… it happens to every team. At 90 minutes gone, with everyone was settling for a goalless draw the normally-excellent Damian Suarez missed his man on the half-way line who set off at speed for goal. From the byline the winger slipped it inside and it took two touches, one a miscue until it was pushed past Herrera: ultimate despair and frustration for everyone connected with Elche to lose like that in the final minute.
That was Monday evening. On Saturday the Illicitanos were in the capital to take on fifth-placed Getafe, another sound La Liga side. Lomban was still out injured, so the experienced Peligrin continued to ably deputise, as Cisma did at left back for Albacar.
A major frustration for Elche on Monday was left winger Fidel, seeing much of the ball but doing so little with it. Subsequently he lost his place to Javi Marquez, returning to boost the midfield with Ruben Perez and Carlos Sanchez, with Ghananian striker Boakye upfront, Manu now injured until the New Year. Only twenty minutes had gone when Getafe scored, the ball not cleared by Elche’s defence and Pedro Leon hitting a long shot just inside Herrera’s post: but that apart the Illicitanos were holding the Madrid side well.
In the second half, as though sensing they had little to fear from Getafe the Franjiverdes got forward more, and began to create good chances. Midway through the half Aaron burst down the left, flashed his cross over and there was striker Boakye at the near post to steer his header beautifully wide of Moya to deservedly drag Elche level.
With ten minutes to go Javi Marquez retired in favour of Stevanovic, the Bosnian international coming on for his first league appearance: he was immediately booked for diving, not an auspicious start. Fidel also came on for Aaron but with little impact, and the match fizzled out with a draw a fair result.
If you asked almost every Elche supporter at the start of the season if after thirteen games would it be acceptable if the club were mid-table with fourteen points, the answer would be a resounding ‘yes’ . So with three wins, five draws and five defeats behind them and with some strong La Liga teams below we must all be happy.
With the international break coming next week it will give the injuries time to heal and more work done on the training ground as coach Fran Escriba strives to find his strongest side – and he has plenty of options to choose from. A hard week, yes, but our local boys are doing OK…
Mucho Elche!
Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/41392/
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