Ten-man Mallorca ended a winless run of three matches that had seen them fail to score a goal, after a thrilling, action-packed game in Gran Canaria on Saturday night when they beat a resurgent Las Palmas 2-3.
The first half was a cagey, scrappy affair which saw Mallorca the better team but very few things of any note happened.
However, in the second half things changed dramatically. One minute after the break, Dani Rodriguez was the first to latch on to a loose ball after great work by debutant right back Mateo Morey. That was Dani’s third goal of the season, making him our leading scorer.
Mallorca gained strength after the goal and added a second ten minutes later, when Robert Navarro opened his account for the season after a fine through ball by Mojica made it 0-2. As the game approached the last ten minutes, madness took over. Las Palmas player Essugo hit a shot goalwards that took a slight deflection off Valjent, making it 1-2. Let the suffering begin!
Five minutes later the equaliser arrived. Muriqi handled in the area and Silva sent Greif the wrong way. With our Captain Marvel, Antonio Raillo, going off with what looked like muscle problems, Mallorca were up against it. What had seemed like a well-earned victory turned into a nightmare in a matter of seconds. As if Muriqi hadn’t been punished enough for his hand ball and yellow card in the area, the referee was asked by VAR to review an incident that nobody saw first time round. Evidently Las Palmas player Jaime Mata celebrated a mistake made by Muriqi, which wound the big Kosovan up. He then gave the middle finger sign to Mata and was shown a yellow card for disregarding a rival and Muriqi was sent off. Mata was shown a yellow for unsporting behaviour.
The outcome, according to an almost-unused law, was an indirect free kick inside the six-yard box, with all the Las Palmas players standing along the goal line. After much faffing around, Samu Costa played a short ball, Chiquinho made a dummy run, allowing Mojica to bullet home the winner into the top left-hand corner of the net. This was a completely farcical ending which saw Mallorca on the brink of collapse finish with all three points. It was an ending to a game that everybody who saw it won’t forget for a long time.
Next up we play Valencia in the Son Moix on Friday night at 9pm. Coach Arrasate will be hard pushed to find enough fit players with two of our strikers on the treatment table, the other one suspended, and our ever-present captain doubtful.
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Great win in the circumstances. Another shocking referee - why do they not see the play acting by players seeking to gain fouls and feigning injury? How many times was Raillo penalised when their striker wrestled him, then fell to the ground. I seem to recall press reports when Arrasate joined that he favoured giving up and coming youngsters a chance to.prove themselves.. Next Friday he should put this into practice.