Estudiantil CNI put nine past Deportivo Binacional in the Segunda División's twelfth round on Saturday night. The hosts made it count from the opening exchanges, while their visitors could not find a foothold in what became a one-sided affair. By then it was clear enough that this was not going to be a contest for the ages.
The visitors came into the match sitting ninth with nine points from fifteen outings, four defeats short of safety. Estudiantil CNI sat one place above them on sixteen points, though both sides had played the same number of games. To be fair, neither team had looked particularly threatening in recent weeks, which made the final score all the more surprising.
There were fifteen shots on target for the hosts against just two for the visitors, with the accuracy figures telling a similar story. Seventy-five percent of Estudiantil CNI's attempts found their mark compared with forty percent for their opponents. Eighty-seven attacks against fifty-nine underlined the territorial advantage, though possession sat at fifty-five percent to forty-five percent.
The visitors managed fourteen free kicks to six, which might suggest they were under pressure at times, but the blocked shots tally of zero for both sides tells you something different. Five goal kicks for Estudiantil CNI against seven for Deportivo Binacional hinted at who was doing the pressing. Three offsides for the hosts against none for the visitors completed the picture of a game played mostly in one half.
This result leaves Estudiantil CNI on sixteen points in eighth place, while Deportivo Binacional remain on nine points in ninth. The gap between them widens to seven points, though neither side has yet moved into the top half of the table. And here's the thing — it does not change the table as much as you might expect, but it might change how people look at both squads going forward.