Ayacucho held on to beat Estudiantil 1-0 in the Segunda División at the end of a match that looked settled on paper long before the whistle. By then the hosts had already built up a lead in possession, 71 per cent to 29, and in attacks, 215 against 79. To be fair the statistics told you everything you needed to know about who was controlling the game.
The yellow cards came thick and fast in the first half. J. Tuesta went down for a challenge on the opening minute, and S. Hidalgo paid the price thirty minutes in. F. Mezarina, M. Villalta and R. Salcedo followed in quick succession, and by the break the referee had already handed out five of them.
There were no chances to speak of until the dying moments. Ayacucho landed four shots on target and four off, while Estudiantil could only manage one on goal from eleven attempts. And here's the thing — the visitors never really threatened, even when the hosts were sitting deep.
The substitutions started coming in the second half. A. Fanarraga came on for Ayacucho at the start of the period, then J. Tuesta was withdrawn at seventy minutes. Estudiantil brought on R. Oliveira, R. Salcedo, J. Garcia, J. Velasquez and S. Hidalgo, though none of them could shift the momentum.
That changed in stoppage time. At 90+5 the goal came, and with it a yellow card for the scorer. The match, which had been drifting towards a stalemate, suddenly had a winner. Ayacucho had been patient, and now they had the result to show for it.
The hosts sit seventh with nineteen points from fifteen games — five wins, four draws, six defeats. Estudiantil drop to eighth on sixteen points, with four victories and seven losses. Two points separates them, and after today that gap feels wider than the numbers suggest.