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Week  31	Numancia	1	v	0	Cadiz
Date 1st April 2007	Alvarez 80 mins
					De Quintana
					Fleurquin
					Pablo

Team news this week sees the welcome return of Raul Lopez, back after injury. Fleurquin returns to the midfield to replace the suspended Bezares and Nano starts in place of Lobos, who drops to the bench.

The visit to Numancia was greeted by unusually cold weather with some sleet falling shortly after the start of the match. The cold weather did nothing to detract the spectators or the players and the match started off at a fast pace with Cadiz, especially, putting pressure on the Numancia goal.

Within the first 20 minutes los amarillos had 5 clear opportunities to open the scoring. The best of those chances fell to Pavoni, Medina, who had come on after just 5 minutes to replace the injured De Paula, and Abel Buades from inside the area and just outside but each of their efforts were foiled by the in-form Numancia keeper, Juan Pablo.

It was not all Cadiz however and Numancia were quick breaking out but they were well handled by the Cadiz defense and were restricted to long shots that came to nothing and caused Armando no problems. The visitors continued to have the best chances with a goal bound header from Medina, from a good cross by Pablo and another great shot from Abel Buades both being well saved by Juan Pablo. Just before half time though Numancia almost took the lead, against the run of play, when Cesar Caneda had to make a goal line clearance after Armando was beaten.

The second half began with both teams looking to take all three points. The first chance of the half fell to 'Cacique' Medina but his goal bound header was again saved by the Numancia keeper. The next chance to break the deadlock fell to Numancia when Fukuda was through on goal but rushed his shot, which not only beat Armando but was also wide of the mark. With both teams looking for those vital 3 points for the win to push towards the promotion places the tempo of the game increased and it was all out attack from both teams with the game switching from penalty area to penalty area.

In one of these comings and goings De Quintana picked up a second yellow card in the 70th minute when he broke up a dangerous attack by fouling a Numancia forward. So for the third time in the last four games Cadiz were down to 10 men, with 20 minutes still to play. Despite the numerical inferiority los amarillos continued pressing forward and Pavoni saw a good effort again well saved by the keeper. Then with just 10 minutes left excellent play by the Numancia forward, Julio Alvarez, saw him break through the Cadiz defense and slotted the ball past the despairing Armando to make it 1-0 to the home team, which is the way it stayed at the final whistle.

Although it is becoming more and more unlikely that Cadiz will be able to gain promotion back to the Primera Liga this season, they continue to play some exceptionally good football and have one of the strongest squads in this league and, indeed, one that is much better placed to hold its own in the top flight. Should Cadiz win all their remaining games they would finish the season on 77 points, which is a point more than they gained in the 2004/5 season, when they were crowned champions, so there is still plenty to play for.

The Team 

                                                                                     Armando

                                              Vella            Cesar Caneda           De Quintana        Raul Lopez 

                      Pablo           Pavoni          Fleurquin        Abel Buades(78mins Miguel Garcia)         Nano(61mins Sesma)

                                                                                De Paula(5mins Medina)