Málaga 1 - Numancia 3

Málaga: Contreras; Bravo, Martín Rivas (Ismael 68'), Larrainzar, Valcarce; Rufete, Movilla (Zárate 57'), De los Santos, Agostinho; Canabal (Basti 57'), Dely Valdés. 4-4-2.
Numancia: Nuñez; Iñaki (Curro Montoya 85'), Jaume, Gustavo, Manel; Marini, Nagore, Pacheta, David Pirri (José Manuel 60'); Ojeda (Rubén Navarro 82'), Octavio. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Málaga: Rivas for Rojas / Numancia: Gustavo, Pirri, Octavio for Muñiz, Soria, Rubén Navarro.

Goals:
0-1. 08. Pacheta. Free kick from outside area which deflected off wall and in.
1-1. 22. Canabal. Took pass from Dely and blasted ball bast keeper.
1-2. 27. Ojeda. From close range after defender mis-hit clearance.
1-3. 93. José Manuel. Got behind defence and shot low past keeper.

The friendship developed last season between the two sets of fans was renewed once again as the Frente Boquerón from Málaga and the Frente Rojillo from Numancia joined forces before and during the match. That was about as far as it went however, as once referee Megía Dávila blew the whistle for the start all friendship was set aside as the two teams battled for the three points. Málaga were looking for their first home win since the middle of last April and were on a doubled up bonus for doing so after winning last week at Mallorca. Numancia needed an away victory to get their season off to a good start. Málaga's manager Joaquín Peiró threatened changes, but in the end only made one, bringing in new signing Martín Rivas to his back four. Paco Herrera had to change his defence, with Soria suspended and Muñiz injured, and he finally opted for Octavio up front rather than Delgado in the place of out of favour Rubén Navarro.

Right from the start Numancia were the better side, although they were fortunate in scoring their first goal, Pacheta's free kick taking a deflection off the defensive wall and sending Contreras the wrong way. Canabal picked up a head wound early on and left the field with blood streaming from a cut, but he returned looking like a casualty from the first world war with a bandage around his head, and shrugged off the injury to pick up Dely's pass and score the equalising goal with a difficult shot which bounced past Nuñez. Canabal is one of the tallest strikers in the league at 1.95, perhaps only matched by his opposite number Ojeda who is the same height. The Argentinian had a point to prove in this game after finally being turned down by Málaga in the close season, and he put his side into the lead after an awful mistake by the Málaga defence who laid the ball into his path after failing to clear Manel's cross.

Peiró brought on his three substitutes early in the second half to try and countermand the domination by Numancia's midfield, and when the visitor's defender Jaume was sent off for a second bookable offence they should really have taken control. However the Soria side continued to get the better of their opponents, much to the dislike of the home fans who started to whistle at their own players. Worse was to come as the game went into time added on, and with Málaga throwing everyone forward, José Manuel broke clear on a counter-attack to score his team's third. Numancia move up to midtable for the time being, and Málaga have to regroup and hope this was just a bad night. It probably won't be their last.