Albacete and Málaga drew (1-1) to open 2021 at Carlos Belmonte in a duel in which the visitors were better than the locals, but which ended with tables that do not serve either team.
The bottom of the Second division faced this meeting with reinforced morale after achieving his first win away from Carlos Belmonte against Mirandés and, also, leaving behind a ten-game streak without winning, against a Malaguista team that had only added one point in his last three league stakes.
A volley whip from the edge of Silvestre's area before the minute of the game was completed was a great omen for a white box more motivated than in previous days and that presented the same eleven of the last triumph with the novelty of the central Kecojevic in place of the sanctioned Boyomo.
The Malacitanos, very well planted, did not stop in their game plan: very elaborate and trying to enter on the right wing with Joaquín, who starred in two very dangerous arrivals that Caye Quintana finished off with folly in both cases.
Albacete's goalless scorer, Alfredo Ortuño, managed to score in an error in the exit of the ball from the visitor's rear in the 25th minute, although his goal did not go up to the scoreboard as it was just annulled for offside.
They turned the tables in the second section of the first half with a more overturned Albacete box, which even put him ahead on the scoreboard behind a wall between Carlos Isacc and Álvaro Peña who the latter finished with a subtle touch with his left boot that Dani Barrio deflected (minute 42).
The Malaguista goalkeeper also had to intervene in the last dangerous action of the first act after a pumped cross from Peña that Escassi in his attempt to clear forced his goalkeeper to deflect to avoid the Albacete goal.
However, as has happened to Albacete this season, everything positive was thrown overboard by an individual error at the beginning of a hectic second half. A horizontal pass from Fuster at the height of the left side left Jairo in an unbeatable position to overtake Málaga four minutes after the restart.
The whites fixed Fuster's mess three minutes later when Ortuño scored his first goal this season on a penalty in an infraction in which Escassi tripped him inside the area and that the Murcian took advantage of to establish the tables on the scoreboard.
The goal seemed to equalize the numerical forces, although not in the game because the visiting squad began to move more leather in the rival field, leading to arrivals such as the one starring Ismael who headed Orlando Sa and that Tomeu Nadal served with two hands and many troubles (minute 69).
The match seemed open, although it was evident that Malaga was better off against Albacete in which its coach, Alejandro Menéndez, took a long time to make substitutions despite having several exhausted players.
The Malagueños had several occasions in the final stretch against a team from Albacete without resources that even seemed to be grateful for the point achieved despite the fact that they remain at the bottom of the classification with fifteen points, four points behind the remaining places.
For its part, the team led by Sergio Pellicer wasted a great opportunity to reencounter the victory after a second half in which it was much better than its rival.
(+) See the summary of the match:
DATA SHEET:
Albacete: Tomeu Nadal, Arroyo, Gorosito, Kecojevic, Caballo, Carlos Isaac, Diamanka (Azamoum, m.84), Silvestre, Álvaro Peña (Nahuel, m.72), Fuster (Zozulia, m.84) and Ortuño.
Malaga: Dani Barrio, Ismael (Juan Cruz, m.86), Escassi, Lombán, Cristo, Joaquín, Ramón, Luis Muñoz, Jairo (Juande, m.86), Cristian Rodríguez (Orlando Sa, m.65) and Caye Quintana .
Goals: 0-1, M.49: Jairo. 1-1, M.52: Ortuño, from penalty
Referee: González Esteban (Basque Committee). He showed yellow cards to the local Kecojevic and to the visitors Cristian Rodríguez and Joaquín.