Bentín Tacna kept their place at the summit of the Segunda División with a 2-0 victory over Ayacucho in the twelfth round of the regular season on Saturday evening. The hosts took all three points despite a match that grew increasingly chaotic, with the scoreline reflecting the reality that Ayacucho failed to convert their possession into chances. And here's the thing about matches like this — the statistics tell one story, the result another.
Bentín opened the scoring in the thirty-second minute when S. Lojas bundled his own team's effort into the net, giving the home side an unexpected advantage. The visitors responded with more possession but struggled to create anything resembling clear-cut opportunities, their shots finding either the side netting or the goalkeeper. By then Ayacucho had already played with ten men after C.H. Albornoz's red card in the fifty-third minute, a moment that shifted the game's balance entirely.
The second goal arrived in the seventy-eighth minute, another own goal, this time from A. Tamariz, sealing a result that felt inevitable once the away side had two men sent off. Ayacucho's Q. Melendez went off in the sixty-seventh minute following a second caution, leaving the visitors to defend with eight outfield players for the closing stages. Bentín held their nerve, not needing much to protect their lead against a side that could barely get the ball into the final third.
Looking at the numbers, the match tells a peculiar tale. Ayacucho enjoyed 52 per cent possession and registered 310 attacks compared to Bentín's 237, yet they managed only two shots on target against seven for the hosts. Bentín's shots accuracy sat at 47 per cent while Ayacucho's dropped to 40, a gap that reflected something deeper than mere efficiency — it was about quality of chance, and Bentín made theirs count.
The result extends Bentín's lead at the top of the table to nine points over Ayacucho, who now sit seventh after fifteen matches. The hosts have won eight, drawn four and lost three, accumulating 28 points, while Ayacucho's record of five wins, four draws and six defeats leaves them 19 points on the board. To be fair, Ayacucho's recent form had suggested improvement, but this performance exposed vulnerabilities that go beyond the two red cards.