Real Zaragoza 2 Real Oviedo 1

Mistakes cost Oviedo dearly

Ten man Real Oviedo slipped to a third successive away defeat in Zaragoza after a double strike for Angel at La Romareda but they were helped by individual errors and indiscipline by Oviedo.

Coach Fernando Hierro kept faith with the same eleven that had started in last weeks 1-0 win over bottom club Gimanstic.

Things started to go wrong for Oviedo as early as the third minute when Michu took a shot from 25 yards that went wide. He immediately signalled to the bench he needed to go off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

On 17 minutes against the run of play the home side took the lead. A hopeful ball forward was mis-controlled by David Fernandez. This allowed Angel a free run at goal and he made no mistake slotting the ball past the onrushing Juan Carlos to put the home side in front.

Almost immediately Oviedo nearly equalised but substitute Pereira couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet after a Toche pass. Had he controlled better he surely would have scored. The contest was very even and the next chance on 35 minutes went to the home side but Angel's effort from Xisco's cross was well saved this time by Juan Carlos.

Just before half time Oviedo shot themselves in the foot or should i say Hector Verdes shot Oviedo in the foot. The ball was played into the right channel for winger Lanzarote to chase. Verdes decided he wanted to get there first which was never going to happen and in an over zealous moment the defender lunged in and took the man. It was a poor tackle that could have caused real damage to the defender and the referee issued a red card. It would be fair to say Lanzarote made the most of the challenge with a couple of exaggerated rolls but Verdes can have no argument at the colour of the card. The crazy thing was that there was no danger as the ball was virtually at the corner flag when the tackle was made.

Real Oviedo now had to play the entire second half a man down as well as a goal down and things went from bad to worse at the start of the second half when the home side were awarded a penalty. After giving the ball away, the ball was whipped across the six-yard box and just as Cani was about to tap home he was crudely taken out by Verdes replacement Oscar Gil. The ref awarded a spot kick and just a yellow card to the on loan defender. You could argue that could have been a red card also. Angel stepped up and slotted home and it was 2-0.

In fairness to Oviedo we kept going and didn’t allow our heads to drop. We kept pushing for a goal rather than accepting the defeat. Susaeta fired just wide from a Christian cross on the hour mark and Toche headed wide a Susaeta cross as Oviedo looked to make it a nervy end to the game for Zaragoza. On 85 minutes we did pull a goal back and it was a stunning free kick from Varela who curled up and down over the wall. Oviedo sensed they could snatch a draw out of the game and went close to an equaliser in the last minute but frustratingly the ball from a free kick was just out of David Fernandez path and the home side breathed a sigh of relief as the held on for the 3 points.

It was a valiant effort by Oviedo and despite the defeat a much improved performance than the 2 previous away games in Huesca and Alcorcon. We just need to cut the individual errors out. As it stands we are 1 point outside the play offs as we head into the final game before the winter break next weekend as we welcome Cordoba to the Carlos Tartiere.

　

John Mothershaw