Makara claimed a 4-3 victory over Manta at Estadio Bellavista on Tuesday evening, a result that keeps them in third place in the Liga Pro Regular Season standings. The match ran its full course in twenty-eight games played so far, with the hosts ending a recent run of mixed results with something to show for their efforts.
Augustin Campana opened the scoring in the twentieth minute, a moment Étienne Gagnon would remember watching from the stands rather than the broadcast. Jostin Alman added a second before half-time, and then the game turned. A VAR-awarded penalty gave Jean Carlos Blanco Becerra the chance to level for Manta, and by then the match had become something else entirely.
The visitors took the lead through Ángel Ledesma's penalty after Franco Posse had missed his spot-kick, and then Martín Alejandro Tello Escobar restored parity for Makara. S. Etchebarne struck twice in the final quarter, but Ángel Ledesma's second penalty kept Manta within reach. A red card for the hosts complicated matters further, though they held on to see the game out.
Makara dominated possession at 53 per cent and registered nine shots on target compared with Manta's five. The statistics suggest they created more, with five big chances against three for the visitors, yet the margin between those figures and the final score tells its own story. Shots accuracy sat at 47 per cent for the hosts, 42 for Manta, and neither side could claim they should have done better with what they were given.
The result leaves Makara on 45 points after twenty-seven games, six behind the league leaders with a game in hand. Manta remain in sixteenth place on 20 points, their recent form showing two wins and three losses across their last five outings. The gap between them at the top and bottom of the table has not narrowed, and neither side is likely to move much closer this season.
