Nothing to play for but pride

Mons Calpe 2-2 Manchester 62

The first clear chance came from Mons Calpe after just four minutes of play. A Manchester 62 defense had a lapse in concentration early on, allowing Vinet through before the ball was cleared for a corner. Manchester 62 responded immediately, but an offside call saw a goal disallowed. Neither team had much to play for except to see who would finish highest in the bottom tier of the championship stage, in which the top six after round two were now playing, with the top three spots already claimed. Mons Calpe saw the ball hit the post after six minutes of play, coming close to scoring once again. With nine minutes left, Drissi created some space for himself at the edge of the box and sent in a low shot on goal, which was blocked by Canto. However, the ball fell to the feet of Vinet, who ran into the six-yard box to push it in. The celebrations did not last long. Manchester 62 found its way into Mons Calpe’s penalty area for the second time in the match, and Samuel Benitez made it look simple as he side-footed the ball into the goal. Kamba nearly produced a second just a minute later on the twelfth minute, running free to goal. However, Tuleda did well to impede his way, forcing him to pass and ending in Mons Calpe’s possession. Just as quickly, it was Mons Calpe at the other end. Although the quality of play was somewhat chaotic, the ping-pong game both were playing added to the excitement. Mons Calpe settled down the pace and started to dictate possession for the next 17 minutes. However, Mons Calpe’s defense was found vulnerable once again in the 27th minute, with a ball stolen outside their own box and finding its way to Benitez, who alone found his mark to place Manchester 62 ahead against the run of play. Mons Calpe dominated possession as they played the last quarter of an hour of the first half but could not find a route to goal. The second half started with Mons Calpe once again putting pressure on Manchester 62, with two early corners forcing Manchester 62 deep into their penalty area. Manchester remained resolute in their defending, closing down space and protecting their lead. Following their 10-1 defeat at the hands of Lincoln Red Imps, this was a better performance by Manchester, who showed resilience as Mons Calpe continued to search for the equalizer. Vinet found his second goal collecting a short pass at the edge of the penalty box and after a quick control and turn, curling it to the near post to beat Cantos. Mons Calpe, having equalized, made some immediate changes and set about to continue pressing on Manchester 62 as they now sought to look for a winner. However, a quick break from Manchester saw Benitez test Tuleda after breaking free from his marker. Once again, Manchester 62 demonstrated that they could be very dangerous on quick breaks, although defending very deep.
As the match neared its last quarter of an hour, the yellow cards began to emerge, with the match going into a stop-and-start pattern. Manchester had to defend but closed the gaps well enough to leave little space for Mons Calpe to find that final ball. Manchester were lucky to survive an 88th-minute corner, with the keeper unable to reach the ball and a shot from close range seeing Cantos stick a hand out well to divert the ball to the corner as it looked as if Mons Calpe had grabbed their third. A clearance on the goal line in the 82nd minute also protected their score. Mons Calpe saw Cantos make another save in the 93rd minute as Manchester defended during the seven minutes of injury time given by the referee. Manchester held on, taking away a point in a match that had looked as if it could have run away from them.