2-1. Belief gets Ibiza across the line against Pontevedra
To win, you need to believe. With this mentality in mind –and confident in its brand of football– Ibiza secured another win today against Pontevedra. It was the team's third consecutive victory on the trot. Overall, it was the club's eleventh win in fourteen matches since 18 November 2018. From that day onwards, Can Misses has turned into true fortress for the most part of a year.
Showing great character from the outset against the side from the Galicia region, Ibiza left no doubts as to its intentions of maintaining this record intact. A good home form has been the key to the club's positive run of results, and it did not take the home side long to target the goal of opposition keeper Édu. Rubén saw his header off a Javi Lara cross hit the post at the early seven minute mark.
The first half hour of the encounter was a festival of corner and free kicks into the box of Pontevedra. In between one of those, Rodado came close to opening the score after forcing an error from one of the opposition's defenders which left Raí the chance to cross it back to him in an effort that would have resulted in a definite goal had it not been for the chest of one of Pontevedra's defenders. Again, it was Raí who tried his luck with a long-range effort which just went wide of the post. Pontevedra tried to get into the game through a series of counter attacks, but Ibiza stood in a very compact way to absorb any of the opposition's break-away attempts.
Just when it looked like the score would not change until after the first half came to a close, on yet another occasion, Javi Lara popped up with a brilliant cross, this time with his left foot. An inch-perfect cross found the head of Rodado whose header had plenty of power and pace behind it. The ball hit the post and went into for Ibiza's opening goal. It was a just reward for a busy and active home side looking to take the initiative.
The second half saw more opportunities present themselves to Ibiza, but the score would not change quite yet and as a result, it was Pontevedra who became more involved in the game. Javi Pazos produced a header which landed in the back of the net and silenced Can Misses momentarily, which up until that point witnessed an enjoyable and positive match. Despite the equaliser, Ibiza maintained its attacking style of play. The introduction of Kike López gave the team a new dimension in the front third together with Rodado, Cirio and Diego Mendoza .
The Argentine striker made his official debut in minute 73 and a quarter of an hour later celebrated his first goal as an Ibiza player. The match had already entered its latter stages when Morillas, incisive from the left flank throughout the entire match, received a Cirio pass, to cross the ball into the heart of the Pontevedra defence. That's when Diego appeared in front of everyone else and rose the highest to launch a header towards Édu, who was unable to stop the flight of the ball. The crowd was elated with the first goal scored by the player on loan from Huracán, who showed a combination of intuition and belief in the same way Ibiza did throughout the ninety minutes. At the end, the three points stayed in Can Misses in a match which observed a minute of silence to remember Paco Mojácar, the godfather of sky blue captain Verdu who surely dedicated his team's victory to him.
