Amath Ndiaye’s 61st minute strike condemned a 10-man CD Leganés to a 1-0 defeat at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque to record our fifth consecutive victory, extend our unbeaten run to 17 games and open up a nine-point gap on the promotion rivals.
Luis García Plaza made six changes to his starting XI following last week’s 3-1 victory over CD Castellón. Joan Sastre, Brian Oliván and Antonio Raíllo returned to defence in place of Fran Gámez, Braian Cufré and Franco Russo, while Antonio Sánchez, Amath, Dani Rodríguez were preferred to Murilo, Aleix Febas and Jordi Mboula in offence.
There was little to separate the two sides in the opening exchanges as we had to wait until the 22nd for our first sight at goal as Antonio Sánchez reacted quickest to a loose ball and volleyed into the gloves of Iván Cuéllar.
Our first meeting with the Los Pepineros since our relegation was shaping up to be one decided by the finest of details as we were unable to find our rhythm and breakdown the hosts’ disciplined defensive lines.
The game swung in our favour on the stroke of half-time as Rober Ibáñez received his marching orders for a second bookable offence when he was perceived to have elbowed Brian Oliván when competing for a header.
The break would arrive before we had a real chance to make use of the numerical advantage as we headed into the dressing rooms with the scoreline level and a huge 45 minutes ahead of us.
We started the second half on the right foot as the best chance of the game came just a minute after the restart as only a well-read intervention from Rodrigo Tarín prevented Dani Rodríguez from getting on the end of half-time substitute Jordi Mboula’s teasing centre across the face of goal.
Earlier warnings were not heeded by CD Leganés as a clever dummy by Amath teed up a one-two with Abdón Prats, and while it appeared the move had broken down by a last-ditch tackle, the forward recovered well to slip the ball past the on-rushing Cuéllar in the 61st minute.
The goal and red card had done little to dent the hosts’ competitiveness as they continued to fight for every loose ball and persisted with a high press in order to hit us on the counter-attack, tactics which would later test the composure of our backline.
Mboula had relentlessly tormented his opposite number after he had been introduced at half-time and his good work almost got him on scoresheet in the 79th minute. The winger’s quick feet afforded him space to cut in and shoot, although his left-footed effort was high and wide of the top corner.
Five minutes of added time set up a tense finale as CD Leganés attempted a last roll of the dice, although our defence remained resolute to secure what could be a vital victory come the end of the season. Attention will quickly have to turn to our first-ever clash with CD Guijuelo in the opening round of the Copa del Rey.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Sastre, Raíllo, Valjent, B. Oliván (59’), Salva Sevilla (85’), Ruiz De Galarreta, Dani Rodríguez (89’), Antonio Sánchez (46’), Amath, Abdón (89’)
Substitutes: Miquel Parera, Russo, Febas (89’), Alegría (89’), Murilo, Lago Junior, Baba (85’), Gámez, Mboula (46’), Trajkovski, Cufré (59’), Sedlar
CD Leganés: Cuéllar, Palencia, Gaku, Arnaiz, Tarín, Rober, I. Miquel, R. Pérez (85’), Borja (85’), R. Pardo (70’), Javi Hdez
Substitutes: Riesgo, Diego Conde, Omeruo, Sergio G, Dani Ojeda, Sabin (85’), Juan Muñoz, Lasure, Rosales (70’), Eraso, Luis Perea (85’), K. Bua
Goals: Amath, 0-1 (60’)
