Martin Valjent’s first goal for the club and a Dani Rodríguez penalty helped us secure a comfortable 2-0 victory over CD Tenerife at the Visit Mallorca Estadi.
Luis García Plaza made one change to his side following last week’s first win of the season against CE Sabadell. A slight niggle picked up in training prevented Jordi Mboula from building on his debut, allowing for fellow new signing Murilo to make his first start since joining on loan from Sporting de Braga. Our latest arrival Briaian Cufré was included among a substitutes bench featuring Iván Bravo, Luka Romero and Alex Alegría.
Despite having beaten CD Tenerife 2-0 courtesy of goals from Stoichkov and Aleksandar Trajkovski just over a month ago during pre-season, there was little love lost as both sides quickly settled into a highly competitive start to the game with club president Andy Kohlberg and director Graeme Le Saux watching on.
It wasn’t until the 18th minute the opening exchanges heralded its first opportunity, and following a mesmerizing run from Lago Junior down the left flank, the in-form winger teed up Abdón on the edge of the box for an effort inches wide of the post.
We wouldn’t miss at the second time of asking however, as a minute later Valjent looped a header into the far corner courtesy of Brian Oliván’s well-worked set-piece routine to score his first goal for the club.
Chances were few and far between following the opener, although we wouldn’t go into the dressing room at the break without some late drama as Murilo first had a penalty claim turned down before Jacobo rattled the bar from close range after a loose ball managed to fall to the forward’s feet inside the box.
We came racing out the blocks after the restart and got our reward in the 53rd minute when Dani Rodríguez was hauled down in the box by Aitor Sanz. The midfielder took responsibility for the resulting penalty and never looked in doubt as he sent Adrián Ortolá the wrong way to score his second goal of the season.
The visitors thought they had pulled a goal back in the 70th minute after Emmanuel Apeh latched onto a through ball and found the back of the net, although any celebrations were soon cut short as the assistant referee rightly flagged for offside.
A sustained period of pressure from Los Blanquiazules then forced Manolo Renia into a fine save to deny Shaq Moore’s driven effort from outside the box. An in-swinging corner with seven minutes remaining called the goalkeeper into action once again, and in what proved to be CD Tenerife's last chance to mount a comeback, Reina was at his best to palm away headers from Nikola Šipčić and then Bruno Wilson in short succession with two unorthodox saves.
Having managed to weather the storm in the closing stages of the game, Braian Cufré and Íñigo Ruiz de Galarreta made their debuts in the 88th minute to ensure we secured all three points.
Our second consecutive win puts us in good stead as we now look forward to an away trip to CD Lugo in three days’ time.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Joan Sastre, Raíllo, Valjent, B. Oliván, Baba, Febas, Murilo (66’), Salva Sevilla (86’), Dani Rodríguez (86’), Lago Júnior (71’), Abdón (71’)
Substitutes: Miquel Parera, Iván Bravo, De Galarreta (86’), Antonio Sánchez (66’), Luka Romero, Alegría (71’), Russo, Fran Gámez, Sedlar, Febas (71’), Trajkovski, Cufré (86’)
CD Tenerife: Ortolà, Kakabazde (66’), Álex Muñoz (57’), Bruno Wilson, Jacobo (57’), Pomares, Aitor, Joselu (57’), Moore, Zarfino (85’), Spicic
Substitutes: Dani H, Víctor, Alberto, Nono, Suso (57’), Carlos Ruiz, Shashoua (66’), Apeh (57’), Jorge (85’), Jaiteh, Borja, David (57’)
Goals: Martin Valjent, 1-0 (19’); Dani Rodríguez, 2-0 (54’)
