Cultural Leonesa 3–1 Barça Atlètic: Defeat in the fog

Barça Atlètic have lost at the home of league leaders Cultural Leonesa, bringining and end to a run of five consecutive victories for Rafa Márquez and his men.

Promising start

With Barça eyeing the top of the table and the home side looking to defend their place there, this was an enticing match from the start, and the reserves started strong, with Unai hitting the bar with an absolute scorcher of a free kick.

Barça looked very much the better of the two sides, dominating the midfielder so much that Leonesa often looked like they were chasing shadows.

And with that came chances, and had it not been for some brilliant last-ditch defending by the opposition, they could have been two or three in front by the break.

Fogged down

The second half was played under increasingly denser fog, and whether that had something to with it or not, there was a sudden shift in affairs and now it was Cultural Leonesa was were on top. Astralaga had barely been tested until making a save in the final seconds of the first half, but now he was a very busy man indeed.

Change of script

Escudero headed in a corner just moments after the restart, and Barça Atlètic were stunned. The opposition were doing exactly what Barça had failed to do until that point - they were taking their chances. Because immediately after, a counter attack ended up with Mbacke fouling Aarón Rey in the box, and Martín Solar's penalty made it 2-0.

Following chances at both ends, Bar¡a finally got on the scoresheet when a lovely build-up between Aleix Garrido and Gerard Martín was tapped home by Pau Víctor, who was finally rewarded after a number of frustrations in front of goal.

But much as it looked like Barça were ready to mount a dramatic comeback, Samares ruined all hope by beating Astralaga, not without a little luck, and the two-goal cushion was re-established.

Barça Atlètic kept pressing away, but got to find out in the flesh why Leonesa have the best defensive record in the league. There just was no way through, and all they can do now is look to make amendsd when they face local rivals Cornellà next Sunday at noon CET.

MATCH STATS

Cultural Leonesa, 3
Barça Atlètic, 1

Cultural Leonesa: Miguel Bañuz; V. García, Rodri Suárez, Fornos, Jaume Pol; K. Presa (Nico Toca, min. 86), Bicho (Aleix Coch, min. 86), Martín Solar; Aarón Rey (Berto, min. 70), Escudero (Guillermo, min. 60), Muguruza (Samanes, min. 60)

Barça Atlètic: Astralaga; Trilli (Joan Anaya, min. 86), Mbacke, Mikayil, Gerard Martín; Casadó (Alarcón, min. 75), Moha, Aleix Garrido; Unai, Pau Víctor, Percan (Cuéllar, min. 86)

Goals: Escudero (1-0, min. 47), Martín Solar (2-0, min. 58), Pau Víctor (2-1, min. 75), Samares (3-1, min. 77).

Match officials: Alonso De Ena Wolf, David Rubio Gómez, Sergio Ferrando Arnal, Enrique Gao Aladro.