On a distinctly more than “poquito fresquito” night, the Palma side gained their third 1-0 home win of the season when the old war horse Dani Rodriguez scored his first league goal of this campaign with a clinical finish in the 57th minute, after good work down the right by Pablo Maffeo.
The first half was awful with both sides looking like two boxers with their hands tied behind their backs – nothing happened.
For the first time since taking over the managerial reins at the end of last season, coach Aguirre made two changes at half time.
The introduction of Clement Grenier and Tino Kadewere livened up our approach play and the speed of the tall, skinny Zimbabwean caused havoc in the Celta defence.
The game sprung into life and both sides were at it hammer and tongs. With the clock running down and five minutes added on, Celta Vigo looked likely to grab a late equaliser but Mallorca’s defence stood firm.
SUMMING UP: In 1999 when we finished third under Hector Cuper, we had 15 (1-0) wins and once again we seem to be scraping through at home with single goal victories.
There’s no doubt the team we had before the World Cup break is now a distant memory. We struggled in the first half and all the players were guilty of giving the ball away on numerous occasions.
We have to be much more alert when Real Madrid come to town in a couple of weeks. Otherwise we will be in big trouble.
Mallorca’s form at the moment isn’t pulling up any trees, but 25 points with a game to go before we’re halfway through the season will do nicely, thank you.
The result leaves us in a comfortable mid-table position as we face relegation-threatened Cadiz in Andalucia next Saturday at 14:00.
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