Guastatoya edged past Municipal 1-0 in the National League's fourth regular season round on Saturday night. B. Lemus found the net in the seventy-fourth minute to settle what had been a tight affair. The visitors had come into the fixture with momentum, winning their previous three encounters, but could not break the hosts' resistance.
The match opened with a flurry of changes at half-time. Guastatoya brought on V. Armas, A. Tejeda, J. Mendez and C. Aguilar all at once in the forty-sixth minute. Municipal responded with C. Hernandez and A. Cabeza coming off in the fifty-ninth minute, followed by J. Almanza and M. Sequen shortly after.
And here's the thing — the statistics tell a different story from the result. Municipal controlled possession at fifty-two per cent and registered one hundred and twenty-four attacks, yet could only manage one shot on target. Guastatoya had forty-eight per cent of the ball and three shots on target, but converted their opportunity.
The game grew increasingly physical as the minutes ticked by. A. Cabeza picked up two yellow cards within a minute of each other in the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth minutes. A. Lon followed with a pair of bookings in the sixty-ninth and seventieth, while B. Lemus himself was cautioned in the eighty-ninth minute.
To be fair, Guastatoya had not looked their best recently, having lost 2-0 to Antigua GF on their last outing. This result will have lifted spirits at the home ground. The hosts now share the same number of points as their opponents after four rounds.
Municipal had been building a run of form, but this defeat halts their progress. They had won 2-0 against Coban Imperial and 1-0 versus Verdies in their previous two matches. The result leaves both teams level on points after the opening month of the campaign.