We reached the halfway point in the season with a frustrating 1-0 defeat to UD Las Palmas as Sergio Araujo’s first-half strike means our search for a first win in the new year continues.
Luis García Plaza made 10 changes to his side in respect to our Copa del Rey penalty shootout defeat to CF Fuenalbrada a few days prior as Braian Cufre was the only player to retain his place in the starting XI. Among the numerous alterations, Martin Valjent and Antonio Raíllo returned from injuries to central defence in place of Franco Russo and Fran Gonzalez, while Dani Rodríguez made his first start of the new year following a muscular issue at the expense of Aleix Febas.
Snowfall had delayed the visitors’ travel plans to the island the day prior and we welcomed to the Visit Mallorca Estadi having to weather an early storm as Lago Junior’s strike from range required Alejandro Domínguez to produce an acrobatic save before a follow-up opportunity was volleyed over the bar by Iddrisu Baba.
Our promising start was to be short lived as Pepe Mel’s side began to find a tempo which produced opportunities for Rober Gonzalez to test Manolo Reina at his near post and Kirian Rodríguez to fire off target.
Las Palmas’s promising period of play eventually resulted in a goal as Sergio Araujo wriggled his way into the box and found the bottom corner in the 21st minute.
The remainder of the opening 45 minutes would see us chase an equaliser to little avail with Abdón coming closest to pulling level with a snapshot blocked by an on-rushing Domínguez on the stroke of half-time.
Having introduced Brian Oliván and Murilo at the break to reinvigorate the left flank, Las Palmas’ resolute defensive lines made it difficult for us to find any leeway in the final third as they managed to restrict us to an Abdón strike from distance in the opening 20 minutes of the second half.
We started to get some joy out of the wide areas as the Canary Islander’s high intensity style of play slowed in the final 15 minutes as we searched for a way back into the game, resulting in Oliván driving an effort straight at the visiting goalkeeper before academy substitute Ibrahim Diabate – making his league debut - headed inches wide of the near post.
Despite our best efforts and a tense finale, we were unable to find a late equaliser as Las Palmas held onto their lead. A break in the Segunda División calendar sees us return to action in a fortnight’s time against Rayo Vallecano away from home.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Sastre, Raíllo, Valjent, Cufré (45’), Baba, Salva Sevilla (71’), Dani Rodríguez (74’), Amath (82’), Lago Junior (45’), Abdón
Substitutes: Parera, B. Oliván (45’), Russo, Febas (71’), Alegría, Murilo (45’), Fran Gámez, Trajkovski (82’), Sánchez, Fran González, Luka Romero, Ibra (74’)
UD Las Palmas: Á. Domínguez, Sergio Ruiz, Álex Suárez, Curbelo, Araujo (80’), Lemos, Clemente (77’), Castellano, Kirian (90’), David Castellano, Rober (80’)
Substitutes: Á. Valles, Ale, Maikel, Ramírez (77’), Athuman, Fabio (80’), Edu Espiau (80’), Mendes, Pau Minguélez (90’), Jonathan, Coco, Diego Gutierrez
Goals: Araujo, 0-1 (21’)
