The sleeping giant is awake
CÁDIZ CF:Aulestia; Mantecón, Servando, Josete, Tomás; Garrido, Espinosa (Fran Machado, 76′); Villar, Kike Márquez, Airam (Hugo, 63′) & Jona.
REAL OVIEDO:Esteban; Nacho (Redondo, 43′), Jonathan Vila, David Fernández, Dani Bautista; Erice, Generelo; Susaeta, Héctor Font (Dioni, 64′), Borja Valle & Linares (Omgba, 85′).
GOALS
0-1 (52´): David Fernández.
REFEREE
Alberola Rojas, Castile-LaMancha Refereeing Federation, booked local player Servando and Real Oviedo Generelo, Linares, Dioni, Josete, Dani Bautista & Esteban.
FACTS
Second leg of promotion play-off to Liga Adelante at Estadio Ramón de Carranza in front of 25,000 spectators. 3,000 Real Oviedo fans in the stands plus other 150 ones with tickets who were not allowed into ground as hosts stated stadium allocation was already complete.
MATCH
Real Oviedo have been promoted to Liga Adelante after a 1-0 victory which was full of passion, drive and commitment. Sergio Egea got his tactics spot on as we controlled large parts of the game and limited our hosts to very few chances on the day. Sergio Egea brought Generelo into the starting line-up in place of Omgba, otherwise it was the same line up as in the home leg last week.
David Fernández was the hero scoring the only goal and he will go down in Real Oviedo folk law.
The first half was a tense affair as expected but Oviedo seemed to be doing the bulk of the attacking, forcing a series of early corners without creating any real goal scoring chances. In fact, the games first key incident came on the half hour mark when Servando put in a robust challenge on Héctor Font after Font nipped the ball away, Servando kicked the midfielder in the head and was lucky to escape with just a yellow card.
Cádiz in the closing stages of the first half created a couple of chances albeit from distance, hitting the bar and forcing Esteban into a low save. The half time whistle arrived and the game was scoreless.
After the break Real Oviedo came out looking even hungrier and Susaeta went close just 3 minutes after the re-start with a great effort from 25 yards but his shot was well saved.
On 52 minutes came the decisive blow and again Susaeta was involved, whipping in deep corner and there was defender David Fernández who escaped his man to nod home and give los Carbayones the lead. The emotion on the pitch and in the corner of the ground where the Blues fans were located was there for all to see.
Real Oviedo were in full flow now and on the hour mark went so close to doubling their lead. Dani Bautista and Borja Valle combined for Bautista to unleash a low drive from the corner of the box only to see his effort come back off the inside of the post and his follow-up scrambled to safety, it was so unlucky. As the game drew to its conclusion the home side were pushing los Carbayones back and throwing the kitchen sink at the Blues, but the visitors were standing firm. David Fernández and Jonathan Vila were like warriors putting their bodies on the line and defending with their heads as well as their hearts. There was time in the last minute for Garrido to try to spoil the party with a 25-yard volley that was top corner bound but Esteban pulled off a superb diving fingertip save to keep Oviedo in front. He really did roll back the years and show great agility.
After 4 more nervous minutes that seemed more like 44 minutes, the referee blew his whistle and never has a whistle sounded so great. The dream had been achieved, Real Oviedo had done it, we had done what we set out to do back in August and win promotion back to the Second Division. There were some amazing scenes on the pitch and in the stands as this means so much to players, staff and fans alike. What a fantastic job done by Sergio Egea, his coaching staff and all the players.
The season does not end there though as we now play over two legs the winner of the other championship final Gimnástic to decide who is the ultimate king of the Segunda B.
John Mothershaw & OK English
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