Mineros de Zacatecas secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Tepetitlan in the ninth round of the Liga de Expansión MX Apertura, with the decisive moment arriving in the 69th minute when J. Avila found the net. The result leaves the visitors sixteenth in the table, though to be fair their league position tells only half the story of a side that has shown resilience despite recent setbacks.
And here's the thing about this match — it wasn't decided by the statistics, which showed Mineros holding 74 per cent possession and registering eleven shots on target. Tepetitlan defended deep, made seventeen clearances, and kept their goalkeeper busy with nine saves. The hosts created nothing of real note, with zero big chances recorded, but they held firm until the visitors finally broke through.
By then, both managers had already reshuffled their lines. Tepetitlan introduced J. L. Rios Orbe and L. Egurrola at the restart, while Mineros brought on J. Cano, W. D. Castro Garcia, and J. Machado within ten minutes of each other. The substitutions continued throughout, with A. Tamay, E. Martinez, and D. Marmolejo all coming on for Tepetitlan in the seventy-first minute, and Avila himself being withdrawn in the seventy-eighth.
Discipline proved costly for the home side in the closing stages. O. Mazatan picked up a yellow card in the fifty-ninth minute, followed by A. Cardenas in the eightieth and T. Arevalo in the eighty-fourth. Then came the red card for M. Cordero in the eighth minute of stoppage time, which effectively ended any hope of a comeback for Tepetitlan.
The statistics tell a familiar story — Mineros dominated with 668 passes compared to Tepetitlan's 226, and registered three big chances against none. Yet the goal came from one moment of quality rather than sustained pressure. Tepetitlan now sit sixteenth with just three points from nine games, while Mineros move up to sixth with fourteen points.