Atlético Escobar held on for a 2:1 victory over Defensores de Villa Elías in the Losers Stage seven of the Torneo Federal A on Sunday evening. The hosts took the lead through Leonel Niz forty-eight minutes in, before Lucas Nunez equalised from the spot just before the hour mark. Ramón Villalba then struck late to give Escobar what turned out to be a crucial three points on the road.
Both sides made changes at the interval, with Tomas Ariel Portillo and Eliseo Aguirre coming on for the visitors at forty-six. Niz's opener came shortly after, catching the away defence flat-footed. To be fair, Villa Elías had done little wrong to this point and deserved something from their equaliser, which arrived courtesy of a penalty awarded sixty-nine minutes in.
What followed was a tight contest with plenty of bookings. Yellow cards came at sixty-six, sixty-eight, seventy-one and seventy-two, suggesting nerves were showing on both sides. And here's the thing — Villa Elías had more shots on target, five to two, yet couldn't find the net from open play all evening.
The statistics tell an interesting story. Escobar dominated possession at fifty-two per cent and registered one hundred and seven attacks against one hundred and four, but their shooting was inefficient. Two shots on target and seven off target. Villa Elías were more clinical with five on target but still couldn't convert. By then the match had settled into a pattern neither side could break.
The result keeps both sides level on eight points from their respective games played. Escobar sit fifth after six matches with two wins, two draws and two losses. Villa Elías are fourth from five outings with the same record apart from one fewer defeat. It changes nothing materially in the table, but it might matter more than the points suggest.
We had tipped the hosts to win with fifty-two per cent confidence going into this fixture. The prediction came good, though not without a late scare. Escobar ground out the win when they could have let it slip, and that kind of resilience is worth more than any statistic.