We recorded what could prove to be a vital three points against promotion rivals UD Almería with a 2-0 win at the Visit Mallorca Estadi courtesy of goals from Abdón Prats and Salva Sevilla either side of half-time.
Luis García Plaza named an unchanged starting XI for the first time this season following a 2-1 defeat to RCD Espanyol seven days ago.
Visiting goalkeeper Giorgi Makaridze was busy throughout the opening exchanges as Dani Rodríguez forced the shot stopper into a fine diving save to deny his driven effort from the edge of the box.
We built on that early momentum minutes later as Salva Sevilla picked up the ball in a similar area from a set-piece before unleashing a drilled strike which required Makaridze to get down well again to tip wide.
Los Rojiblancos were forced to wait until the 14th minute for their first sight at goal, although Lucas Robertone was only able to curl wide an effort from the edge of the box to the relief of Manolo Reina.
A fine reaction save from Reina to clear a deflected effort would launch a decisive counter attack as Nikola Maras handled Dani Rodríguez’s cross in the box at the climax of a sweeping move. Abdón held his nerve for the resulting penalty to give us the lead moments prior to heading into the dressing room for half-time.
UD Almería were the stronger side following the restart, but for all the possession in the final third, Reina only had to produce a straightforward save to control Fran Villalba’s strike from distance.
We put a difficult 20 minutes behind us when our high-press saw first-half substitute Iddrisu Baba to rob the ball in a dangerous possession and launch an incisive attack which accumulated in Salva Sevilla slipping past his marker with a clever dummy before curling a strike into the far corner.
In the final few minutes of the game Brian Oliván produced an acrobatic goal-line clearance to prevent José Gomes’ side from mounting a late comeback, although Juan Villar’s header would be the closest UD Almería would come to pulling a goal back as we held on to ensure all three points stayed on the island.
With a long way still go in the campaign but returning to top of the table, our attention now turns to a trip to Logroñés in six days’ time.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Gámez, Raíllo, Valjent, Oliván, Ruiz de Galarreta (40’), Salva Sevilla, Dani Rodríguez, Amath (87’), Antonio Sánchez (87’), Abdón (73’)
Substitutes: Koke, Sastre, Cufré (73’), Russo (87’), Febas, Baba (40’), Murilo, Trajkovski, Mboula, Marc Cardona, Álvaro (87’), Mollejo, Lago Junior
UD Almería: Makaridze, Sadiq, Robertone (79’), Akieme, Lazo (62’), Corpas (85’), Maras, Balliu, Samu (85’), Villalba (79’), Cuenca
Substitutes: Fernando, Buñuel, Schettine, Morlanes (79’), De La Hoz, Villar (62’), Aketxe, Brian Rodríguez (85’), Centelles, Carvalho (79’), Chumi, Ivanildo
Goals: Abdón, 1-0 (44’); Salva Sevilla, 2-0 (69’)
