Ortuño’s 24th-minute strike proved to be the difference on a frustrating afternoon at the Nuevo Castalia as we slipped to a 1-0 defeat against CD Castellón.
Luis García Plaza made four changes to the side which beat CD Lugo 2-0 a week ago as Iñigo Ruíz De Galarreta, Murilo, Victor Mollejo and Álvaro Giménez replaced Aleksandar Sedlar, Amath Ndiaye, Jordi Mboula and Abdón Prats respectively.
Despite having dominated the opening exchanges with some neat possession football, the hosts got themselves ahead with their first sight at goal when Ortuño headed home Rubén’s cross against the run of play in the 24th minute.
While we continued to probe CD Castellón’s defence with little luck getting in behind their resolute defence, Murilo and Dani Rodríguez came closest to levelling matters before the break with late chances in the first half.
We continued to get plenty of joy out of both flanks with Joan Sastre and Brian Oliván adding to the attack after the break which resulted in Salva Sevilla forcing Óscar into a fine same just past the hour mark.
The newly-introduced Aleix Febas created space for Dani Rodríguez five minutes later, although the midfielder was unable to get his attempt on target.
With time ebbing away and red shirts flooding forward in attack, Giménez would have our best chance of heading back to Mallorca with a point when his headed effort was saved by the in-form Óscar.
Ending the match with 18 shots and 69 per cent of possession, there was an understandable frustration come the final whistle as we now look to make amends with a trip to CE Sabadell in a week’s time.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Joan Sastre (56’), Valjent, Raíllo, Oliván (56’), R. De Galarreta (70’), Salva Sevilla, Dani Rodríguez, Murilo (70’), Mollejo (56’), Álvaro
Substitutes: Parera, Koke, Baba, Russo, Febas (70’), Cufré (56’), Mboula (70’), Fran Gámez (56’), Trajkovski, Marc Cardona (56’), Luka Romero, Gayà
CD Castellón: Óscar, Lapeña, Arturo (79’), Ortuño, Ruben D, César Díaz, Bodiger, C. Delgado (90’), Galvez E., Víctor, Jorge Fdez (90’)
Substitutes: Campos, Krhin, Satrustegui, Castells, Carles (90’), Cubillas, Iago Indias (90’), Gus (79’), Muguruza, Mateu, Javi Moyano, Jonatan
Goals: Ortuño, 1-0 (24’)
