2015 - A year to remember

A simply fantastic year for Real Oviedo

After a poor (first half) to 2014, Real Oviedo ended the year on top of the Segunda B group 1 table after a fine run at the start of the season under the management of Sergio Egea. The first aim of 2015 was to stay there.


January:

We started the year with a solid if not spectacular run of results. A 2-0 home win over Coruxo was followed by two games against fellow Asturian’s with a 0-0 draw away at Gijon B before a narrow 1-0 home victory over Real Aviles. A fine 2-0 away win at Burgos rounded off a good month and start to the year. Not a goal conceded in the month.




February:

The fixtures were starting to heat up now with some difficult looking fixtures in the next month or two. First up in February was a home game against an inform Cultural side and we had to settle for a 1-1 draw. The next two games however saw us score nine goals. A fantastic 5-1 away win at fellow promotion hopefuls Guijuelo was followed by us gaining revenge on Valladolid B for the 4-3 defeat earlier in the season. We won 4-1 on this occasion. Borja Valle and Miguel Linares scored six of the nine goals between them.

A fine 1-1 draw away at second placed UD Logrones rounded off a productive month.


March:

We went into March unbeaten in the year and faced five further fixtures in this month and came out of it still unbeaten. Wins over Marino, Celta B and Lealtad were sandwiched in between draws against fellow promotion rivals Ferrol and the supporter’s day goalless draw against a dogged Langreo side.


April:

April started with an Easter visit to the south of Spain for what most people thought was to be the toughest fixture of the season when we travelled to Real Murcia. A creditable 0-0 draw was the outcome. This was followed by two consecutive victories. A 2-0 win over Astorga was followed by an impressive 4-1 win away at Zamora. This win left us needing just 1 point from our remaining four games to be crowned league champions. That wait was made to go on a further week as we lost the first of those four games surprisingly losing 1-2 at home to relegation threatened Tropezon. This was our first defeat in 19 games.


May:

We got that point in our first game in May. It was secured in romantic fashion too with Diego Cervero scoring the equalising goal to grab the draw. There was more romance from him to come. Real Oviedo won one and lost one of the two remaining games as focus now switched to the play offs as we aimed to secure promotion to the Segunda Division.

As fate would have it, we drew the toughest possible option when the draw paired us with group 4 champions Cadiz in a two-legged tie whereby the winner was promoted.

The first of these was played at a packed Carlos Tartiere where we didn’t start too well as Cadiz took the lead on the stroke of half time.

You got the feeling we needed at least a draw to take south for the second leg and we needed a hero. Step forward Diego Cervero once again. Borja Valle sent a cross into the area and there was the legendry hit man to turn his neck and power a header passed the Cadiz keeper on 81 minutes to give us hope. The celebrations from Cervero, his teammates and the crowd suggested we were now in the driving seat.

The second leg was played in intense heat and after a goalless first half Oviedo who needed to score upped the tempo in the second half. On 51 minutes came the moment that will go down in folk law with Oviedo fans forever more. Susaeta whipped in a corner and there was David Fernandez to head home a priceless goal that put us in front for the first time in the tie. After 39 nerve-wracking minutes the agony was over as the referee blew his whistle and that was it, Real Oviedo were promoted and we returned to the second tier of Spanish football for the first time since the 2002/03 season.


June:

Due the strange nature of the Spanish lower league system we still had to play another two-legged tie to decide who was the overall champions of the Segunda B divisions. We faced Gimnastic who had defeated Huesca in their play off final. We lost the first leg in Tarragona 2-1 but came back in the second leg and brushed Gimnastic aside 3-0. After 2 Linares goals you can guess who got the third and final goal to secure our silverware - Yes that’s right Diego Cervero.

The season was finally over and it was mission accomplished. A superb season with the perfect outcome and we could all celebrate in style and enjoy the summer.


August:

As is often the case when your side gets promoted, the wait for the new season seems to take forever but the day finally arrived on the 23rd August 2015 when we entertained Lugo in our first second tier fixture in 12 years and it was well worth the wait. Despite not getting maximum points the fans were treated to a terrific game which ended 2-2. The first away game a week later was a more sobering affair as we went down 2-0 in the Basque country against Alaves.


September:

Real Oviedo were desperate to get that first win under the belt and that came against a familiar face in Albacete, a team we had beaten in the play offs at the end of the 2012/13 season. We produced a fine performance to storm home 3-1. Three days later and we got our second win of the season with 2-1 win over Valladolid. This time it was in the Copa del Rey. The second league win did follow though and it was a first away win with a fantastic performance in a 2-0 win in Tenerife. We picked up just one point from our remaining two games in the month. A 2-1 home defeat to Girona was followed by a decent away point at Elche. All in all though, a very positive month.


October:

This turned out to be a mixed month with some great and not so great results and performances. First up was a 1-1 draw at home to Mallorca. This match saw the first goal for this seasons top scorer Toche.

A difficult trip to Valladolid followed but we returned home with all three points after a thrilling 3-2 victory in a game that could have easily have ended 9-8.

The next match saw us exit the Copa del Rey after a 3-2 extra time home defeat to Mirandes in a controversial match in which we had 2 players sent off. This was soon followed by another match that ended 3-2. This time in our favour as we saw off a very impressive Alcorcon outfit at the Carlos Tartiere.

The final match of October saw us slip to defeat away at Ponferradina. Once again it was a goal fest. 4-2 the score line this time.


November:

November got off to a disappointing start when we failed to score in our first two games of the month. A first and only 0-0 of the season so far against Bilbao B was followed by a slender 1-0 defeat at Numancia.

As has often been the case though, this side has responded from defeat with a victory and we then saw off Gimnastic 2-0 at home and made it a double victory over fellow promoted sides as we then beat Huesca 1-0 with a last minute penalty winner. The final game of November was arguably the most difficult. We travelled south to face Cordoba. A 2-1 defeat was by no means a disgrace as the winner saw the hosts go top of the table.


December:

We only faced 3 games in December and in my opinion, quite fittingly we won them all. The first of them was a narrow 2-1 home victory over Llagostera before we faced Mirandes again, but this time away from home. Despite being under pressure for large parts of this game we dug in and managed to come away with another 2-1 victory. The final game of the year was against the surprise package: Almeria, and i say surprise for the wrong reasons in the fact they are bottom of the table having been a top-flight side last season. Toche grabbing the only goal of the game to leave us in third place at the end of the year amazingly just two points behind the top two sides in the table: Alaves and Cordoba.

　

　

So 2015 has been a massive success and will go down in the history of Real Oviedo and will fondly be remembered by fans as the year the club came back from the dead. There is no doubt the sleeping giant is awake and this club is on the right path back to where it rightfully belongs. It will be a tall order but we are in a fantastic position to make 2016 an even better year.

Hala Oviedo!!!