Julián Calero maintains his faith intact in recovering Juanjo Narváez for the cause, one of the most renowned signings this season who has not finished taking a step forward. The Colombian striker returned to the starting lineup a month and a half after being injured in Albacete and returning with minutes in a trickle in this final stretch of the championship. The Albinegro '12', scorer of 2 goals this season, was the main novelty in a lineup where the trivote Alarcón-Musto-Andy Rodríguez stood in the middle, Iván Calero had air on the right and Jairo Izquierdo waited his turn on the bench .
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The team, very regular, finds the reward for a great first half with Fontán's goal
Cartagena played a very complete first half, quite regular and without too many ups and downs. The albinegros fought, won second plays and were generally more intense than an Andorra team that had a hard time getting warm and, above all, accumulating long possessions of the ball as usual.
Julián Calero's men generated dangerous chances against Ratti's goal. Started with a fantastic header from Musto that the goalkeeper shook off, then a one-on-one from Luis Muñoz annulled for offside and another promising play from Juanjo Narváez that ended with Álex Pastor being shown a yellow card and Alcalá being fouled. The albinegros almost always hugged Eder Sarabia's team, an example of which was the five corner kicks in favor and zero against.
The stopped ball, a vein
Andy Rodríguez's set piece was precisely the key to Fontán's goal in the 40th minute. The Galician headed the Granada native's precise cross.
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The mobility of Darío Poveda, the hierarchy of Verdú and the shot against the crossbar by Pombo to give a scare
Shortly before 1-0, Cartagena went through some delicate moments from which they fortunately emerged victorious. Andorra found some depth on the left side of Pampín and Scheidler, on two occasions, narrowly missed the shot inside the area, intercepted by Andy and a hierarchical Verdú.
Curiously, on the right, Eder Sarabia's men had a double chance to get ahead on the scoreboard by generating superiority on that wing. Pombo found just the right space to hit the crossbar with a whip. On the rebound, somewhat forced, Scheidler did not give it too much force and allowed Lizoain to react quickly. In those transitions the visitors did damage, despite Julián Calero's warnings from the technical area. Poveda, with his mobility on the attacking front, stood out in the first act.
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The albinegros suffer a lot in the second half against an Andorra without any success
Cartagena's most suffering and agonizing victory is also the sweetest so far in 2024. The albinegros were subdued in the second half by Andorra, who accumulated possession, cornered the locals in their ranch and put a knot in the stomach of the almost ten thousand spectators.
Eder Sarabia's men had countless chances, all very dangerous, to tie the match in a second half of almost monologue. Cartagena barely had the ball and found it difficult to string together two passes in a row and create problems on the counterattack.
Iker Benito forgave Efesé when he finished wide in a more than honest position: completely alone, with Lizoain defeated, at the far post. Eder Sarabia couldn't believe it. Neither did Scheidler in another random shot that grazed the post. The visitor's harassment and demolition, almost until the last second of the extension, did not have a reward in the form of success. That is the condemnation of an Andorra that collided with a Cartagena with its sleeves rolled up and guerrilla.
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Salvation is 7 points away in the absence of the rest of the day's results
Efesé continues to be launched as one of the best teams in the second round. The albinegros had one foot in Primera RFEF when they had the worst first half of a championship in decades, with 15 points in 21 days. However, Julián Calero's men have risen energetically in 2024 with no less than 23 points in their pocket to reach 38 with 10 games left to play. The normal thing is that by getting 10 points from the last 30, nothing crazy seeing how the team is doing, salvation is tied.
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Calero: “We are getting this out but there are still 10 days left”
Julián Calero's name is chanted every fifteen days at the Cartagonova stadium for being the great architect of a reaction that not even the most optimistic of fans thought of. On January 14, during the half-time of Cartagena-Villarreal B (0-1), the albinegros were bottom and had one foot in Primera RFEF with only 15 points in 22 games. The comeback that day (4-1) began an unprecedented upward line that today has the team 7 points above relegation.
«We had to do a second 'playoff' round being bottom. We needed to engage everyone and we have hit those keys. The results have strengthened us and we are taking this forward,” the Efesé coach said last night.
There are 10 games left and 30 points ahead. In this section, Calero recalled, is where everything is decided. “We have 12 points left to reach 50. We have to continue winning and I invite my players to continue being brave, winners, to climb positions.” Former captain Marc Martínez, now at Granada, surrounded his former teammates on the green and in the box.
#sweetest #agony #Ephesus
