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The match started in much the same way as last week with both teams nullifying the other and most of the game played in the middle of the park, where Fleurquin and Bezares worked hard to keep the visitors at bay and to try and get Cadiz attacking with purpose. in the 18th minute of the contest Dani had the first real opportunity to open the scoring when some good play down the left wing found the ball played across the pitch to Dani on the right side of the box with just the keeper ahead of him. Although he got good power on his strike from 15 yards out it was straight at Alba, in the Hercules goal, and he had little trouble in turning it round for a corner. Despite still being on terms at that stage los amarillos were playing badly with many, many missed passes and very few players running into space to make themselves able to collect a pass, which also meant that on many occasions the player on the ball had nobody to pass to and was easily closed down by an opponent. Whereas in the last few weeks Cadiz have attacked superbly down the wings with the two Lopez' down the left and Cristian and Enrique down the right creating all sorts of problems for the opposition, regrettably today it just wasn't happening and it almost looked as if those players had never played together before as the runs weren't right and neither were the passes. The loyal supporters were stunned by the display of their heroes and the atmosphere inside the Carranza was unusually flat, reflecting the performance from Cadiz. Gradually Hercules were looking more and more dangerous and on one occasion Contreras fumbled a low cross to the far post and had to be helped out by Raul Lopez, who hoofed the ball away before a Hercules player could latch on to the loose ball. With 35 minutes on the clock the inevitable happened when good play by the visitors opened up Cadiz like Moses did when he parted the Red Sea. Suddenly Ion Velez, by the centre circle in the Cadiz half, found the ball at his feet with the Cadiz players backing away from him allowing him to run directly towards the Cadiz goal and when he was 20 yards out he let fly with a powerful right foot shot that flew past the helpless Contreras into the top left corner of the goal to make it 0-1 to Hercules. Within two minutes of the goal Fleurquin rose well to head the ball from a corner but his effort was agonisingly just too high over the bar and so the half ended with the visitors one goal to the good.
Suddenly the goal awoke the crowd and there was a real hope that Cadiz could now take the game to Hercules and power on to take the points but it just didn't happen with passes still going astray and players being caught on the ball. When los amarillos did break forward it was usually through Enrique down the right but on many occasions his control, or to be more accurate, his lack of control let him down. However he did fire in a strong cross, which was supposed to be a shot, that Casas was inches away from connecting with in front of goal. With Cadiz continuing to play poorly by their standards it was the visitors who looked to be the home team as they continued pressurising Cadiz and playing some good football. In the 79th minute the inevitable happened when Ismael again put the ball behind the Cadiz defense leaving Ion Velez to easily outpace the chasing pack and fire the ball through Contreras to make it 1-2 to Hercules. Although Cadiz tried to push forward they didn't cause Alba any more problems until just minutes from the end when Bienve tried a long looping shot after he spotted the keeper off his line but Alba was able to make his ground back to the goal line and catch the ball just under the bar. With three minutes of time added on the Hercules manager, Goikoetxea, cleverly used up most of that time by putting on his three subs at different times, with substituted players receiving an ovation from the Cadiz crowd in recognition of the way that they had played. This display was totally unexpected as, since Antonio Calderon took over as manager he has played a pretty settled team that has grown in confidence week by week, with their strong performances getting results and moving them up the table. On the display tonight all thoughts of promotion should be forgotten about as it showed frailties in the team, which were capitalised on by a very powerful Hercules team. It is to be hoped that it was just a bad day at the office when nearly all the players had an off day and that they can come back strongly in the second half of the season. The Team Contreras Cristian Paz Caneda Raul Lopez(46 mins De Quintana) Enrique Fleurquin Bezares(46mins Parri) Gustavo Lopez Casas Dani(58 mins Bienve)
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Calderon
tried to change things right at the start of the second half by putting Parri on
for the hard working Bezares and De Quintana on for Raul Lopez, who presumably
had picked up a knock, with Caneda moving to left back and De Quintana taking
his place at the centre of the defense alongside Paz. It soon became clear that
this change at the back might leave los amarillos open to a Hercules break when
both Paz and De Quintana were found wanting for pace when racing for the ball
with an opponent. Sure enough in one play the ball was clipped over the Cadiz
defense for Ion Velez to race onto and he slotted the ball home but, fortunately
for Cadiz, the referees assistant had flagged for offside and so the 'goal' was
annulled. The visitors continued to look stronger and more dangerous than Cadiz
and in the 63rd minute a shot from Rodri rattled the post with Contreras well
beaten. Suddenly just six minutes after that escape Cadiz made a quick break out
from the back and put the ball over Enriques head for him to run onto in a
straight race with the Hercules left back Graff and the long striding Enrique
just got his toe to the ball first and went down under the challenge from Graff
and it was the referees assistant who flagged for a foul, which the referee
eventually accepted and pointed to the spot to give some hope to the home team.
Up stepped Parri to take his second penalty in as many weeks and he coolly
slotted the ball to the right of Alba, who had dived to his left, to make it, a
very unlikely, 1-1.