UD Las Palmas earned their second successive league victory while breaking a seven-month winless streak away from home. UD Las Palmas were visiting one of the toughest grounds in the league, El Toralín in Ponferrada. The home side had been undefeated at home since January. There was a last minute setback in the starting line-up for the yellows as Mauricio Lemos pulled out with a muscular injury, giving way to fellow defender Martín Mantovani. The match started slowly and was littered with errors and few attacking moves, before suddenly coming alive with a free kick strike by Jonathan Viera and a missed penalty by Yuri, the Ponferradina captain, in just two minutes.
Once again, Jonathan Viera converted a superb free kick from the edge of the penalty area, putting Las Palmas 0-1 ahead in the 24th minute, the Gran Canarian showing a sublime piece of skill. The next move of the match by Ponferrada resulted in a far from clear cut use of the hands by De la Bella but had the referee pointing to the penalty spot. This decision was then ratified by VAR. However, ex-Las Palmas player Yuri struck his penalty kick over the crossbar.
Las Palmas were looking better than Ponferradina and they took control of the match on the back of their slender lead. Jonathan Viera nearly added to his tally with another shot from outside the box, home goalkeeper Caro pulling off a fine save. Just before the break, Mantovani prevented a certain equaliser by clearing the ball off the line. The yellows went in at half time feeling confident with their 0-1 advantage.
The second half saw SD Ponferradina push forward, but were thwarted time and again by an organised Las Palmas defence, with central defenders Mantovani and Aythami Artiles outstanding. Then with another fine attack Las Palmas extended their lead in the 66th minute. Pedri hit a quality shot with his right foot following a cross from the left that Jonathan Viera cleverly allowed to run on to him. Josep Martínez then pulled off two fine stops just before the end to round off a great performance by the yellows. Tonight’s great win by Las Palmas puts them on 12 points and takes them closer to a play-off spot.
