Elche make nice progress

Joy in the Martínez Valero. Elche beat UD Almería 1-0 on matchday 26 of the Liga BBVA in an encounter between two direct rivals for salvation.

The Alicante outfit clearly dominated the first half. Fran Escribá’s charges were extremely energetic and imposed a blistering tempo on the game from the first minute. A piece of wizardry by Jonathas de Jesus in Almería’s box found Víctor Rodríguez, who calmly headed the ball goalwards in the 6th minute. The early lead strengthened the home team, who outplayed their opponents in terms of possession and by using tight lines to pressure the ball. As a result, the few chances Almería did create during the opening 45 minutes failed to find the back of the net.

Juan Ignacio Martínez’s men looked livelier after the half-time break, with Ximo Navarro and Migue Ángel Corona leading the charge. Although Elche controlled the game, Almería caused a few scares towards the end of the game, however, neither precision nor luck were on their side and the final whistle was met with delight from the home support, while this most recent defeat sees the Andalusian side slip into the relegation zone.