Pitchside with Pope: A hard fought game

Richard Pope was looking forward to the weekend’s match between Perelló and L’Ametlla. It was a good game, but Perelló struggled to break through their opposition’s defence.

As a ‘socio’ (member) of Centre d’Esports El Perelló I get certain privileges, such as free entry to dances organised by the centre and discounted entrance when attending away football matches. The ticket given at the game says ‘soci visitant’ and, depending on the club, usually costs between four and six euros. Yesterday in L’Ametlla I was charged seven euros. I know L’Ametlla has financial problems, but it’s not the fault of the visitors.

The match itself was as tight and hard fought as everyone thought it was going to be. On merit I think L’Ametlla probably deserved to just shade the game; they were more physical, closing down quickly and not giving the Perelló players space to play their normal game.

The referee signals a free kick to L’Ametlla

L’Ametlla should have taken an early lead after they were awarded a penalty when one of their players was tripped in the box. They were thwarted, however, by an amazing save from Mark Andreu who dived full length to his left to push the ball away to safety. He pulled off a similar finger-tip diving save before half time to keep the travelling Perelló supporters content.

Two minutes into the second half L’Ametlla went ahead. A corner kick which floated high into the box eventually fell to the feet of Sergi Callau beyond the far post. He then drove the ball high into the top corner of the net from a tight angle.

Perelló kept their composure and, with the addition of substitutes Narsis Franch in mid-field and David Flox in a reorganised back line, they pressed further forward but were not able to break down the solid L’Ametlla defence. Further changes in the last ten minutes bringing on Oriol Cid and Sergi Segarra were to no avail and so L’Ametlla ran out the winners by the solitary goal of the match.

Next match: at home to La Senia on Sunday 19 December. Kick off 3.45pm.

Final score

L’Ametlla SCER 1 0 CF Perelló

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