Comerciantes saw off Ayacucho 5-1 in the Segunda División regular season on Friday. The visitors arrived fourth in the table but left with their dignity in tatters after a red card compounded the damage. And here's the thing — the result shifts the gap between the sides at the top of the standings.
V. Perlaza opened the scoring in the twenty-third minute, then doubled his tally fifty-one seconds after the restart. Ayacucho's S. Lojas picked up a booking before the break, but Comerciantes were already building momentum. H. Arakaki added a third just after the hour mark, and D. Pinedo followed with a fourth.
By then, the match had settled into a rhythm that only one side could sustain. Perlaza was substituted in the sixty-sixth minute, joined by A. Fanarraga and Q. Melendez — a triple change that suggested the hosts were comfortable. To be fair, they had earned that luxury.
P. Vela extended the lead in the seventy-seventh minute, and J. Morales sealed it with a fifth in the eighty-eighth. Ayacucho then lost their composure: C. Huyhua was booked in the seventy-eighth, and a second yellow card in stoppage time reduced them to ten men. The game was effectively over before the whistle.
The statistics tell part of the story. Comerciantes registered six shots on target alongside six off target, while Ayacucho managed just one of each. Both sides held fifty percent possession, but the attacks tell a different tale — fifty-eight against forty-seven. The disparity in shots on target mirrors the scoreline.
Comerciantes sit second with twenty-three points from fifteen matches, having won five and drawn eight. Ayacucho remain fourth on nineteen points from fourteen games, but that red card in the dying moments will linger. By then, the damage was done — and the table tells a story that will take time to rewrite.