Incapara Aruba secured a 2:1 victory against Fuerte San Francisco in the Apertura round 11 of the Primera División on Saturday evening. The result moves the hosts up to ninth place with eleven points from eleven matches, while the visitors remain twelfth on six points after ten games.
R. Aparicio opened the scoring in the thirty-first minute, giving Incapara an early advantage. Fuerte responded before half-time through J. Urrutia in the forty-seventh, and the first period ended level at one apiece. To be fair, both sides created chances, though the statistic of nine shots on target against three tells you where the pressure sat.
And here's the thing about the sixty-eighth minute — V. Santana collected a yellow card and then a red in quick succession. The dismissal changed everything, even if the score remained unchanged. Incapara had been content to control possession at 55 per cent, but now they needed to do more with their numerical superiority.
I. Mancia found the winner in the eighty-fifth minute, ending Incapara's barren spell of not winning since the previous match. The hosts had dallied on the ball in the closing stages, but once Santana was gone they went for the jugular. Fuerte, by then defending with ten men, found no answer.
The statistics tell a straightforward story. Incapara registered 141 attacks compared to 124 from the visitors, with shots off target at six to two. Possession sat at 55 to 45, and the red card meant the visitors could only manage three shots on target in the second half.
The victory means Incapara have climbed from their recent slump of defeats and draws. Fuerte have not won since their opening fixture and now sit three points behind safety with two games remaining. The table goes out of the window in these games, but the gap between them and the relegation zone is closing.
