Jornada 4: Castellon vs. Malaga
An 11,000 crowd turned up to match this live televised match between the early co-leaders of La Segunda this season.
Muniz had yet again to select a team without striker Salva, still injured after some close scrutiny by the Alaves defenders three weeks ago. But the front two pairing of Baha and Peragón has looked solid in the past two games and Salva may have trouble getting his place back. Also, despite the inadequacies of his first half selections in the previous three games in the centre of midfield, Muniz refused to change a winning team.
Málaga (4-1-3-2): Goitia; Jesús Gámez, Wellington, Hélder, Rossato; Carpintero; Paulo Jorge, Hidalgo and Calleja; Baha and Roberto Peragón.
Malaga got off to a dream start in the first minute, when PERAGON ran onto a through ball down the right wing behind the defence and crashed his shot home from 8 yards. Castellon 0 Malaga 1 Although Malaga seemed to give up the midfield (as has happened in the three previos games) Castellon's passing was not good enough to trouble Malaga's defence. Paulo Jorge and Calleja repeatly swapped wings durin the half in a effort to see more of the ball, but this more often than not left the wings completely open and unguarded. Half-time Castellon 0 Malaga 1 Castellon came out after the break looking more composed and Malaga were living dangerously defending their slender lead. The ineffective Calleja was replaced by the more direct Elliseu in 54'. Then in the 64' Hidalgo slotted a ball for BAHA to run onto and he cheekily shot through the advancing goalkeeper's legs to make it 2-0. Castellon 0 Malaga 2 Malaga were ahead through two opportunist goals and looked as though they were more than capable of scoring more. With Elliseu providing width, which had been missing hitherto, the malagueños dominated the centre of the field for a spell, thanks to the great work of Santi Carpintero and Antonio Hidalgo.
But when a striker, Peragon, was replaced by a third centre half, Silva, in 73', we knew that Muniz was ready to settle for the 2-0 scoreline for the final fifteen minutes or so. Of course the inevitable happened and Castellon pulled one back in 80' after a mix-up between Weligton and Goitia allowed Nakor to hook the ball home and give the home team some hope. Castellon 1 Malaga 2 Malaga, though, again impressed their superiority over Castellon with a third goal in 84' after a good passing movement down the left eventually found HIDALGO on his own in the box. He was at an impossible angle for a shot (we all thought) and whilst everyone was waiting for the cross back across the six yard line, the midfielder crashed the ball home just under the crossbar. Castellon 1 Malaga 3 Surely now the game was won. But there was one more final twist in 89' when Rossato allowed the Castellon right winger to retrieve the ball near the corner flag and send a cross over the defence to the waiting Reggi, who scored from two yards, to cause much anxiety in the Malaga ranks. Full time Castellon 2 Malaga 3
This result means that Malaga remain undefeated in their opening four games and remain in pole position in the Second Division table.
Next Sunday, they are home to newly promoted Eibar. Never fear, your Malaga CF Correspondent will be there.
P W D. L F. A. P.
1 Málaga 4 4 0 0 11 3 12
2 Numancia 4 3 1 0 10 3 10
3 R. Ferrol 4 3 1 0 8 3 10
4 Sporting 4 2 2 0 9 3 8
5 Hércules 4 2 2 0 7 4 8
6 Gimnástic 4 2 1 1 5 3 7
7 Cádiz 4 2 1 1 4 3 7
8 Eibar 4 2 1 1 3 2 7
9 Sevilla At 4 2 1 1 3 2 7
10 Castellón 4 2 0 2 6 5 6
11 R.Sociedad 4 2 0 2 4 5 6
12 Elche 4 1 2 1 3 3 5
13 Tenerife 4 1 2 1 4 5 5
14 Córdoba 4 1 2 1 5 7 5
15 Celta 4 1 1 2 3 4 4
16 Granada74* 3 1 0 2 6 6 3
17 Poli Ejido 4 1 0 3 2 8 3
18 Xerez 4 0 2 2 4 7 2
19 Alavés 4 0 1 3 1 5 1
20 Las Palmas 4 0 1 3 5 11 1
21 Albacete 4 0 1 3 2 8 1
22 Salamanca* 3 0 0 3 0 5 0