Almeria 2 : 2 Elche - Almeria and Elche share spoils

Posted Sunday, October 05, 2014 by PA

Hero Jonathas turned villain as 10-man Elche held on to claim their first point in four matches from a 2-2 draw against Almeria at the Juegos Mediterraneos.

Almeria took the lead through Victor Rodriguez before Jose Antonio Verza made things level at the break.

Jonathas put the visitors back in front 10 minutes after the interval before he saw red for a second bookable offence and Tomer Hemed rescued a point for Francisco Rodriguez's men late on.

The result moves Elche up three places into 16th, while Almeria moved into eighth with nine points from their opening seven matches.

The away side started well and got on the scoresheet after just six minutes with the first real chance of the game as Rodriguez headed home from Jonathas' cross in the centre of the box to hand his side the lead.

Elche continued to press and Damian Suarez tested Ruben with a long-range drilled shot, but the home goalkeeper held his effort out.

Edgar Mendez had a chance to bring Almeria back on level terms but his shot from just outside the 18-yard box sailed round the post.

Moments later Jonathas had the opportunity to double his side's tally but his thunderbolt from 35 yards out powered over the bar and into the stands.

The home side looked likely to pull a goal back with a series of Verza corners midway through the first half with Fernando Soriano unfortunate not to score with his close-range header on the end of one of them.

However, their pressure paid off with less than 10 minutes of the half to go as Edu Albacar conceded a penalty which Verza did well to convert to level the score at the break.

The second half started at a slower pace but Edgar had a chance to hand the home side the lead, forcing visiting keeper Manu Herrera to tip his effort around the post.

But it was the visitors that went ahead for the second time in the match as Pedro Mosquera set up Jonathas and he made no mistake with his well-placed volley landing in the top left of the Elche goal.

Deep into the second period, Jonathas received his marching orders after he was shown his second yellow card, this one for handball to leave his side with 10 men and fighting to hold onto their narrow lead.

The home side began to press for an equaliser as Wellington Silva and Jonathan Zongo came close before Verza's corner found the head of second-half substitute Hemed, who clinched a point with five minutes remaining.