Academia de Anzoátegui claimed a 1-0 win over Rayo Sucreano in the second stage of the Clausura tournament on Wednesday evening. The match ended 1-0 after Eduardo Navas found the net in the eighty-third minute. It was a tense affair where neither side managed to create a clear opportunity inside the penalty area.
Rayo Sucreano started brighter on their own ground, earning a yellow card through D. Copete after just six minutes. P. Rojas went offside early as well, picking up a booking in the thirty-fifth minute. The hosts pushed forward but struggled to break down the visitors' defence, with J. Marquez also cautioned before the break.
Academia de Anzoátegui came out with more purpose after the interval, making a change at the restart with C. Cermeno. D. A. Vasquez Ferrer followed in the fifty-fifth minute as the visitors tightened things up. Rayo Sucreano then brought on A. Contreras in the sixty-eighth, while S. Garces picked up another yellow card in the sixty-seventh.
The decisive moment arrived late in the game. Navas broke through in the eighty-third minute to slot home the only goal of the contest. Rayo Sucreano threw everything at it afterwards, bringing on G. Marin and D. Copete in the eighty-first minute, then P. Rojas in the eighty-sixth. But the stadium fell silent as the visitors held on.
The statistics tell a story of dominance without reward. Academia de Anzoátegui held 57 per cent possession and completed 375 passes to their opponents' 275. They registered eleven shots against nine, yet both sides created zero big chances. Shots accuracy was barely different at 21 per cent versus 20 per cent.
The result leaves Rayo Sucreano in eleventh place on twenty points from twenty-one games. Academia de Anzoátegui remain in thirteenth, sitting on thirteen points. By then, the gap between them and the teams above had not really moved, and both sides are running out of games without momentum.