Deportivo and Espanyol Share Points in Fifth Round Draw
Deportivo La Coruña women took on Espanyol in the fifth round of the Primera División Femenina on Sunday and walked away with a single point each after a 1:1 draw. We had tipped the hosts for victory, confidence level 39 per cent, but the match had other ideas. To be fair, Espanyol were not without their chances, though they made do with far less of the ball.
I. Lacosta gave Deportivo the lead in the thirtieth minute, a moment that seemed to settle the game into a comfortable rhythm. By then the visitors had already seen P. Ojeda sent off in the fifty-first, reduced to ten men and backs against the wall. Millene found an equaliser in the seventy-fourth, and the result was sealed before either side could find a winner in the closing stages.
There were plenty of changes on the bench as managers tried to shift the momentum. Lacosta was replaced in the fifty-ninth alongside Anita, while Caracas came on for Deportivo in the sixtieth. Espanyol brought on Bicho in the sixty-sixth, and L. Rivas with P. Fernandez arrived together in the sixty-ninth. O. Baradad joined the fray in the seventy-eighth, and Pardo was swapped for O. Rodriguez in the eighty-fourth.
Deportivo dominated possession at 65 per cent but struggled to convert their territorial advantage. They registered 132 attacks and 17 shots, only five on target, while Espanyol managed 86 attacks and six shots, two on target. The hosts had 12 shots off target compared to four for the visitors, and neither side created a big chance despite the volume. Shots accuracy sat identical at 0.29 for both teams, and the goalkeeper for Espanyol made four saves to one for his counterpart.
Both clubs remain in the lower half of the table with identical records: one win, two draws, two losses, five points from five games. Deportivo sit thirteenth and Espanyol twelfth, separated by a single position. The result means neither side has extended or broken any recent run, and the forecast for a home victory has gone out the window. By then it was clear that the match would not be decided by possession alone.
