Abdón Prats’ injury time bicycle kick saw us record what could prove to be a vital 1-0 victory at Almería in our push for promotion as our unbeaten run rolled onto 15 games.
Luis García Plaza made three changes to his starting XI following our 4-0 win over UD Logroñés on Matchday 15. Joan Sastre, Brian Oliván and Iddrisu Baba returned to the side in place of Fran Gámez, Jordii Mboula and Salva Sevilla.
There was little leeway in the opening exchanges despite some promising build-up play on behalf of both sides, although the game’s first opportunity fell to Antonio Sánchez who was unable to get his volley on target after the ball fell to him unexpectedly from a poor clearance.
The hosts then had a spell of possession which resulted in a quick succession of chances for Radosav Petrovic and José Lazo around the 15-minute mark, but neither troubled Manolo Reina.
We would have to wait until the 34th minute before we registered our first shot on goal, although Braian Cufre’s left-footed strike proved to be nothing more than a routine save for Fernando.
We would head into dressing room come the break with the scores levels despite finishing the first 45 minutes the stronger side with off-target efforts courtesy of Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta and Antonio Sánchez.
The restart would read from the same competitive script of a first half which ended with five bookings as Los Rojiblancos’ backline pushed us out wide and limiting us to efforts from distance.
Substitute Salva Sevilla came close to repeating his free-kick heroics from the penultimate matchday of the 2018-19 season against the same when his whipped strike forced Fernando into an acrobatic stop with 70 minutes on the clock.
The set-piece proved to be a catalyst for the game to open up as Almería provided an immediate response through Samú Costa crashing a low effort against the post before Reina recovered well to paw away Umar Sadiq Mesbah’s follow up.
Time ebbed away and with the game on a knife’s edge, substitute Jordi Mboula was inches away from making meaningful contact on an in-swinging cross into the box.
As proceedings looked destined to remain deadlocked, Abdón Prats met Lago Junior’s cross with an acrobatic volley in injury time to cue pandemonium throughout the living rooms of fans watching in the dugout, back home and abroad.
The striker's second goal in as many games proved to be one of the final moments of note as a mixture of relief and joy was clear come the final whistle. Heading back to Palma with an away win against promotion rivals, we will now turn our attention to the hosting of CD Castellón on Monday evening.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Sastre, A. Raíllo, Valjent, B. Oliván, Ruiz De Galarreta (89’), Baba (55’), Dani Rodríguez, Cufré (79’), Antonio Sánchez (55’), Amath (89’)
Substitutes: Miquel Parera, Russo, Fran Gámez, Mboula (55’), Febas, Álex Alegría, Abdón (79’), Murilo, Lago Junior (89’), Salva Sevilla (55’), Sedlar (89’), Luka Romero
UD Almería: Fernando, Aitor Buñuel, C. De La Hoz (60’), Petrovic (67’), Sadic, Centelles (67’), Robertone (67’), Lazo (83’), Carvalho, Chumi, Cuenca
Substitutes: Makaridze, Escobar, Morlanes (67’), Aketxe, Akieme (67’), Corpas (60’), Maras, Balliu, Samu (67’), Villalba, Mendes, Ramazani (83’)
Goals: Abdón, 0-1 (90’)
