Oviedo 2 - Deportivo 3

Oviedo: Esteban; Gaspar (Rubén 93'), Danjou (Pablo Suárez 50'), Boris, Rabarivony; Jaime (Geni 69'), Onopko; Paunovic, Tomic, Iván Ania; Oli. 4-2-3-1.
Deportivo: Molina; Manuel Pablo, César, Donato, Romero; Víctor, Mauro Silva (Emerson 70'), Valerón (Helder 76'), Fran; Makaay, Diego Tristán (Scaloni 74'). 4-4-2.

Team changes: Oviedo: No change / Depor: César for Naybet.

Goals:
0-1. 16. Diego Tristán. Near post header from Fran's corner on left.
0-2. 22. Diego Tristán. Took long pass and held off Boris before scoring off post.
1-2. 54. Jaime. Headed over keeper after cross in from Paunovic.
1-3. 58. Diego Tristán. Intercepted Pablo's pass and shot from outside area.
2-3. 71. Paunovic. Headed past keeper after Oli nodded across Ania free kick.

A hat-trick by Diego Tristán, his third of the season, kept Deportivo in with a mathematical chance of their second league title in a row. Tristán had played little away from home before this match, his manager preferring Roy Makaay to lead the attack away from the Riazor stadium, but their need for a victory and an injury to Djalminha prompted Irureta to include both of them in his starting line up. Tristán was a nightmare for the Oviedo defence, opening the scoring with just over a quarter of an hour gone to cost his new club 300 million Pesetas, payable to Mallorca under the transfer agreement for getting his fifteenth goal of the season in the league in open play. It was money well spent as far as Depor were concerned, and with that out of the way the young striker went on to add a second a few minutes later, running on to a long clearance from defence to drive the ball wide past Esteban.

Oviedo had not been playing badly but they had nobody to finish off their moves, and when they did get a shot on target Molina was there to show a safe pair of hands. In the few minutes around half time the keeper kept out efforts from Oli, Paunovic and Iván Ania, and Tomic missed a sitter after Rabarivony set him up. Eventually they did get a goal back, Jaime heading Paunovic's cross into the top corner of the net, but Tristán appeared again with the best goal of the day, intercepting a bad pass just in Oviedo's half and finding space to power a shot past the surprised Esteban from ten metres outside of the area. A set piece free kick from Iván Ania set up Paunovic to put Oviedo back in the game, and after Gaspar hit the crossbar, Irureta decided to play safe, taking off Tristán and Valerón to bring on Scaloni and Helder.

A few minutes later though he was wishing that he had saved himself one substitute, as referee Fernández Marín produced a second yellow card to keeper Molina for time wasting. The old man of the team Donato proved his versatility taking over the keeper's jersey, and he even made one good save, punching away a corner under challenge from a couple of blue shirts. To the relief of the 2,000 or so Coruña supporters who had made the short journey, the game ended soon afterwards, leaving Deportivo fairly sure at least of second place, keeping five points clear of Valencia and Mallorca with three games to go. Oviedo drop dangerously to within a point of the relegation zone, and with their last games against Barcelona, Real Madrid and Mallorca, they must be one of the strong favourites now for a return to the second division.