Celebrations as Lago Junior seals Mallorca's win with the third penalty kick of the match.

Celebrations as Lago Junior seals Mallorca's win with the third penalty kick of the match. | Miquel A. Borras

Monro BrycePalma24/10/2016 00:00
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Real Mallorca, after a fast and furious second half, finally overcame a poor but stubborn Alcorcon from Madrid 1-0, thanks to a Lago Junior penalty kick fifteen minutes from time. This gave Real Mallorca only their third win of the season.

The first half was awful, the highlight being in the eighth minute when Mallorca were awarded a highly dubious penalty by referee Gonzalez Fuertes. After a lot of fannying about, Culio stepped up, or rather stuttered up to take the kick and failed miserably, Marko Dmitrovic saving easily. Shortly into the second half, Alcorcon were also awarded a penalty, which was saved by goalkeeper Jesus Cabrero. That save probably stopped coach Vazquez getting the sack.

If Culio had scored his penalty, Mallorca would have gone on and romped this game, but as it was, we once again fell to pieces as soon as the opposition penalty area came into view. After the interval Alcorcon realised that they could get something out of the game and pressed forward in numbers but their finishing was woeful.

On the hour mark with Mallorca going nowhere, Vazquez made an important change. Juan Rodriguez looked to be still suffering from a long-term hamstring strain and after a gut-busting shift was replaced by Serbian striker Lekic. At last Mallorca had a tall target man to ping high balls into; Lekic tried hard but didn't really have the service.

By this time Mallorca had rattled the post and the bar through Campabadal and Oriol respectively. Then in the 75th minute Lago Junior got his just rewards after Brandon was bundled over in the area. The Ivorian international kept his cool as he slotted home Mallorca's winner.

The 8,000 crowd went into raptures as it was no more than we'd deserved and it was scored by the best player on the pitch. As usual the last 15 minutes saw Mallorca hanging on, but it was a win, three points, and a clean sheet as we rise up to 14th in Liga 123.

Summing up: The second half grew steadily fractious until Lago scored from the spot. This match showed in the second half why proper football supporters pay money to watch a live game. Forget the lack of quality, it was nerve-jangling stuff and something never experienced viewing on a TV screen. Young Brandon Thomas had a funny old game and found it difficult to stay on his feet, looking at times like he had rubber legs. His first touches let him down on several occasions, but he's still a prodigious talent.