Unión Santa Fe beat Lanús 2:1 in the Clausura round two of the Argentine Professional League on Thursday evening. The hosts took all three points despite being outplayed for large stretches, with a late strike from J. Mosqueira securing the win.
The opening half was a subdued affair. R. Carrera came on for Lanús in the twenty-eighth minute, and A. Medina made his debut shortly before the break. C. Izquierdoz picked up a yellow card in the forty-first minute, and the game settled into a cautious rhythm.
When the second half began, the pattern shifted. L. Menossi found space in the box and finished in the fifty-third minute to give Unión the lead. He would later be substituted in the eighty-second minute, but by then he had already changed the complexion of the match.
Lanús pushed back immediately. F. Pena Biafore equalised in the seventy-third minute, and for a moment it looked as though the visitors would take control. They had more possession, more passes into the final third, and higher expected goals. But pressure alone does not win matches.
At seventy-six minutes, J. Mosqueira made the decisive move. He found room between the defenders and slotting home to restore Unión's advantage. S. Marcich had been cautioned in the fifty-ninth minute, and the yellow cards began to accumulate as the game tightened. The result was not pretty, but it was earned.
The statistics told a different story. Lanús held 59 per cent possession and recorded 1.1 expected goals to Unión's 0.49. They created one big chance while the hosts created none. Yet shots accuracy favoured the home side, 27 per cent to 20, and three shots on target produced two goals. Chances went begging for the visitors.
Unión moved to 21 points in eighth place after sixteen games, while Lanús stayed on 24 in sixth. Both sides had lost their previous outings, so this was a chance to build momentum. The clean-sheet run came to an end for the visitors, and now they cannot afford another slip if they want to close the gap.