Somozas 2 Real Oviedo 3

Oviedo too hot for Somozas

Los Carbayones end the year top of the table

Real Oviedo ended the year of 2014 top of the table after an unconvincing 3-2 victory on the road against Somozas in a game that was played at Ferrol’s Malata stadium. Once again coach Sergio Egea made a surprise in selection with Eneko playing on the left in place of Sergio Garcia. Borja Valle still not over his recent knock. Jon Erice was also back in the starting line up along side Omgba in midfield with Generelo dropping to the bench. We had a rare situation today as both goalkeepers were captains with Esteban captaining Oviedo and his opposite number Abraham donning the Somozas armband.

In a game played in front of very few fans. This game almost had the feel of a training exercise. It wasn’t long though before Oviedo hit the front, in fact they went ahead after just 3 minutes. The ball was fed out wide to Susaeta and his low cross was only half cleared to the edge of the box and there was Omgba who hit a first time shot that seemed to go through a few defenders and clipped a heel on the way through. This wrong-footed the keeper and the ball trickled into the bottom corner. It was a landmark goal. The 5,000^th goal scored by Real Oviedo. On 13 minutes came goal number 5001. Hector Font the provider this time. He played a pass out to Susaeta and the tricky winger beat his man and shot at the near post after feigning to cross. The ball flew passed Abraham into the net to give Oviedo a 2-0 lead. It seemed like complete cruise control with us passing the ball around almost unchallenged. The game changed on the 22^nd minute mark though when out of nothing the home side won a penalty. Jonathan Vila the guilty party handling the ball in the area. Up stepped Luis Angel and sent Esteban the wrong way.

Real Oviedo though were controlling the game with possession but it was more of a contest as Somozas were now closing Oviedo down sooner not allowing them to play with the freedom of the opening 20 minutes. It took until just before the half time break for Oviedo to create another chance. A fine ball in from the left from Eneko was met by Linares but his downward header came back off the post and the home side had escaped.

Oviedo were made to pay 5 minutes into the second half as the home side grabbed an unlikely equaliser. Antas decided to have a pop from long range and Esteban could only parry the ball back out in front of him and there was Luis Angel to shrug off the defender and slam the ball back passed the bewildered keeper for 2-2.

This seemed to shell shock the league leaders as Somozas had probably their best spell of the game for 15-20 minutes after the goal as they seemed to up the tempo. Despite this they couldn’t create any chances during this spell. Oviedo had realised the urgency of the situation though and sent on Garcia in place of Eneko and just 10 minutes after his arrival he create the winning goal. His cross was handled in the area and Oviedo were awarded a spot kick. Susaeta stepped up and found the top corner with a superb penalty on 70 minutes. Real Oviedo held firm despite a heart in mouth moment right at the end when Esteban came to the rescue clawing away a free kick with several Somozas players ready to pounce. The whistle sounded and the game was all over. Its fair to say we had got out of jail after our complacency nearly resulted in 2 dropped points. Overall though we deserved the 3 points and remain top of the table going into the winter break. We return to action on the first weekend in January with a home game against Coruxo.