Monte fight back to earn a point

THOSE who attended the away fixture in early November, will never forget when Monte were totally outplayed by Torrevieja, yet came away with the 3 points and a 0-2 win, after a goalkeeping masterclass by Sergio aided by a stout defence.

The return fixture at ‘The Cauldron’ was eagerly awaited by both sets of fans, which was unsurprisingly the highest attendance of the season, estimated at 450 (with a good contingent from Torry, together with their drum).

Now to the match itself, no doubt Torrevieja wanted to avenge their defeat, and straight from the kick-off, pushed forward with slick passing and a chip was pushed over the bar by Sergio. From the resulting corner, Torry went ahead with a free header into the bottom corner - three minutes on the clock, not a good start.

Monte did break out of their half with Pato one-onone, but he shot wide of the right-hand post.

There then followed a period of sustained pressure from Torry, with Monte hardly getting a sniff of the ball, two more good saves by Sergio and two more shots off target.

The pressure paid off when a move down the left wing sent a low cross into the box, which deflected off Monte captain, Fernando into the net to make it 0-2.

With the away side in total control it looked like a heavy defeat was on the cards, but Monte did carve out a couple of chances before the break - a 25 yard free-kick over the wall forcing a good save, followed by a near miss by Pipo.

I estimated first half possession to be 70/30 in favour of Torrevieja, with Monte well on the back foot.

Half time: CD Montesinos 0-2 Torrevieja

Did Torrevieja think the match was already theirs? Maybe, but they came out strongly once again, with a headed goal ruled out for offside.

Monte then suddenly found their feet and started to put together some good football and slick passing of their own. This resulted in a cross from the right met by Girona just inside the box who thundered the ball into the net.

With 55 minutes gone the score was 1-2.

Monte was now chomping at the bit, and after a long throw-in and a goalmouth scramble there was Girona to poke in an equaliser from six yards out.

61 minutes gone and it was 2-2.

The second half was a lot more even, with Monte seeing much more of the ball and Torry clearly unsettled after losing their lead.

On 68 minutes, Fernando and Paco were replaced by Arturo and Kevin.

The game ebbed and flowed with a few chances for both teams, with a flurry of fouls leading to several yellow cards.

Dani Saiz was replaced by Damien, followed by scorer Girona going off for Maccan, just before the 90 minutes were up.

Unfortunately, a frantic last few minutes of added time (11 minutes, where did that come from!?) saw Gocu receive a second yellow card and was sent off.

Monte held on until the referee finally looked at his watch and blew his whistle.

A spirited second-half performance from the Monte team deservedly brought the game back from a losing position to the second-placed team in the league with high ambitions.

CD Montesinos remain in a safe seventh place.

The man of the match was sponsored by Erling Witzoe and awarded to Girona.

There is no match this weekend, but Monte will be away at Atlético Catral on the weekend of April 9-10.

Don't forget to take out or renew your Full Monte membership with Mick, any committee member or at thefull monte2011@hotmail.com

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The Monte Mentals Walking Football Club of Los Montesinos and The Cauldron Petanca Club, in association with Torregolf.Eu are proud supporters of The Full Monte and CD Montesinos.