Las Palmas lost their first match of the season and missed a great chance to go top of the league. Manolo Jiménez made just two changes to his starting line-up to the one that beat the leaders last week. Íñigo de Galarreta came back into midfield in place of Javi Castellano, who was injured. His brother Dani took the place of Alberto de la Bella on the left hand side, who didn’t travel with the squad to Gijón. The game was an even affair as Las Palmas came out fighting on the beautiful carpet of grass of El Molinón, against a team that was fearful but combative at the same time. Maikel Mesa and Tana had early chances, but Sporting de Gijón went ahead thanks to a fine left foot finish by Álvaro from outside the area that evaded Raúl Fernández.
The goal hit Las Palmas hard, who were putting together moves with long periods of possession, without the ball reaching the attacking threat of Rubén Castro, who was being closely watched all afternoon. Sporting played with tenacity and anticipation in defence and made life uncomfortable for the Canary side, who went in at half time a goal behind, with one last effort on goal, a header by Danny Blum that grazed the crossbar.
Las Palmas needed to get back into a match in a stadium where the home support gets right behind their team while intimidating their rivals. Playing at this stadium which now is a reminder of legendary player Enrique Castro Quini is a wonderful occasion for any team. The football played motivates footballers and this afternoon Las Palmas (who played in green) strived to keep progressing in the league at this Asturian temple of football
Away goalkeeper Raúl Fernández saved a penalty by Carmona (m. 60) and kept his team’s hopes alive in the last half hour, but it wasn’t to be. Rafa Mir, Sacko and Pekhart all came on to try to give the away attack added bite, but the fighting spirit of Sporting finally overcame the efforts of the away side to change the scoreline.
