La Ponferradina achieved this Thursday in City of Valencia against Levante (0-0) an important tie, which was the first point for the coach David Gallego, after surviving the siege of the local team, who had endless chances, both in the first and second half, but were left without the victory award due to the lack of goals.
The tie, however, did not help Deportiva avoid relegation and Levante, who finished the match with 18 shots, missed another chance to close the gap on the first classified after adding just one point in a game if where the referee disallows a goal for each team for offside.
Levante needed five minutes to adapt to the six changes introduced by Calleja to the starting eleven and immediately Pablo Martínez had his first chance, showing all his power to move the ball from one place to another, but his left-footed shot was too wide. loose (m.7).
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The second dangerous shot was also for Levante, with a shot by Joni too high. By then the local team had the ball and the game and Ponferradina was unable to stop Levante’s pace of circulation, who breathed their last midway through the first act.
La Deportiva stretched a bit, with Hugo Vallejo’s drive on the left cleared by Postigo for a corner (m.29). It was a mirage as Levante commanded again until the break and should have taken the lead, but the referee canceled out De Frutos’ goal, who finished inside the area after receiving a cross from the active Brugué, which was clearly offside.
Levante had two more chances in the first period. First, a wayward Wesley, after receiving a filtered pass from De Frutos, sent the ball into the side of the net and, in the 44th minute, Pablo Martínez again shot from the edge of the area without opposition from the visiting defense.
Nothing changed, despite Amo entering La Deportiva, after passing through the locker room. Levante still couldn’t make sense and Brugué wasted a shot from point-blank range. Goalkeeper Amir, who returned to the eleven, was the star by first denying a dangerous shot from Joni, leading the Levantine siege, and then stopping a volley from Brugué.
More complicated was Amir’s save in the 57th minute when he blocked a shot, again by Brugué, just a few meters from the goal line. Calleja found Cantero and Bouldini for the goal they needed, but Levante ran out of ideas and came close to closing things out with a goal from Derik on an isolated play, but it was annulled for offside less than twenty minutes later . .
Without De Frutos or Joni, retired due to exhaustion, and overwhelmed by the stopwatch, Levante lost momentum and Deportiva didn’t suffer too much. In fact, the visiting team settled in the opponent’s field for the last quarter of an hour of the game and enjoyed the best minutes of the game at the end to earn a draw and end a two-game losing streak.
– Data sheets:
0 – Raise UD: Cárdenas, Pubill, Vezo, Postigo, Saracchi (Franquesa, m.83), De Frutos (Cantero, m.65), Pepelu, Pablo Martínez (Campaña, m.83), Brugué, Joni (Musonda, m.75) and Wesley (Bouldini, d.65).
0 – SD Ponferradina: Amir, Paris, Pascanu, Diéguez, Adrián Castellano, Ojeda (Ale Díez, m.92), Erik Morán (Amo, m.46), Agus Medina, Hugo Vallejo (Edu Espiau, m.61), Naranjo (Moi Delgado , m.92) and Derik (Yuri, m.80).
Referee: González Esteban (Basque College). He advised locals Wesley, Bouldini, Vezo and Campaña, and visitors Agus Medina and Diéguez.
Incidents: match of the nineteenth day played in the Ciutat de València before 12,008 spectators.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
