Amath Ndiaye, Antonio Raíllo and Dani Rodríguez were on target as we overcame Málaga CF 3-1 at the Visit Mallorca Estadi to stretch our unbeaten run to eight games.
Luis García Plaza made five changes to the side which overcame AD Alcorcón 2-0 three days prior, introducing Ndiaye, Braian Cufré, Salva Sevilla, Jordi Mboula and Dani Rodríguez in place of Brian Oliván, Aleix Febas, Lago Junior, Aleksandar Trajkovski and Marc Cardona.
Having paid our respects to the recent passing of former player Doro with a minute’s silence before kick-off, we couldn’t have wished for a better start when Ndiaye volleyed home the game’s first opportunity by reacting quickest to beat the offside trap and volley home from a few yards out in the 11th minute.
Clearly buoyed having opened his account in red and black, the forward almost transitioned from scorer to provider when he teed up Salva Sevilla four minutes later, but the midfielder couldn’t keep his effort down.
With proceedings then slipping into a stop-start nature as neither side shirked away from the competitive nature of the game, Manolo Reina was called into action on the 24th minute to deny Josua Mejiás’ header.
A deflected effort on Joan Sastre’s behalf would be the closest we would come to scoring again as we went into the dressing room unable to break down Los Albicelestes’ deep defensive line for a second time.
Despite our frustrations in front of goal for much of the first half, it took just five minutes after the restart for Raíllo to double our lead having shown good awareness to get between two markers, climb highest and flick Salva Sevilla’s free-kick past Juan Soriano.
Against the run of play in the 67th minute, luck was on former striker Pablo Chavarría’s side when his strike took a heavy deflection off Raíllo and looped into the top corner to end a new club record of seven consecutive clean sheets.
The fingertips of Juan Soriano denied us an instant response after Ndiaye did well to find space on the edge of the box and unleash a drive which required an acrobatic stop at full stretch.
However, there was nothing the goalkeeper could do to prevent Dani Rodríguez from registering his third goal of the season on the 73rd minute. Teed up by Cufré’s marauding run down the left flank, the midfielder found the bottom corner with a measured strike just outside the area to the delight of the home dugout.
With a two-goal cushion restored with just over a quarter of an hour to go, Dani Rodríguez’s goal proved be the final noteworthy moment of the game as we resisted Málaga’s late push forward to secure all three points. Despite smiles come the final whistle, we will have to quickly switch our focus to Matchday 10 as we travel to Real Zaragoza in three days' time.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Sastre, Raillo, Valjent, Cufré, I. Ruiz De Galarreta (69’), Salva Sevilla (77’), Antonio Sánchez, Dani Rodríguez (77’), Mboula (86’), Amath (86’)
Substitutes: Miquel Parera, Oliván (77’), Russo, Febas (69’), Alegría (86’), Abdón, Lago Junior (77’), Fran Gámez, Trajkovski (86’), Marc, F. González, Luka
Málaga CF: Juan Soriano, Mejías, Juande (46’), Luis Muñoz (75’), Chavarría, Rahmani (75’), Matos, Caye (60’), I. Calero, Escassi, Ramon (86’)
Substitutes: Dani Barrio, Gonzalo, Lombán, Cristian (75’), Orlando Sa (86’), Jairo (60’), Jozabed (46’), Benitez, Quintana, Cristo, Julio (75’), Larrubia
Goals: Amath, 1-0 (11’); Raillo, 2-0 (50’); Chavarría, 2-1 (68’); Dani Rodríguez, 3-1 (73’)
