Kuketa Deportivo edged Alianza Petrolera 1-0 in a tight clash at Estadio General Santander during the seventh round of the Clausura. Both sides entered having struggled for consistency, and the result keeps them locked in the lower reaches of the table. Kuketa remain nineteenth on sixteen points, one behind Alianza in seventeenth.
And here's the thing about the opening exchanges — J. Peralta had two penalties in quick succession and missed both. The twenty-fourth-minute spot-kick sailed wide, then another followed at twenty-seven. You could see the tension building, and by then the crowd was holding its breath. Neither attempt found the net, and Alianza's goalkeeper was spared any real testing.
It was only in the sixty-third minute that Peralta finally converted, giving Kuketa the lead they had been waiting for. The match statistics told a curious story — both teams registered three shots on target and six shots off target, yet Alianza registered a higher expected goals figure of 1.69 compared to Kuketa's 1.3. One mistake ends it in these games, and the away side paid for theirs.
The yellow cards flowed freely throughout, with Kuketa collecting five and Alianza six. J. Quinones went off at the break for Kuketa, replaced by Federico Cantillo, while Alianza brought on L. Berdugo for F. Pardo in the seventy-second minute. Neither manager made changes that shifted the balance, and the game settled into a cautious rhythm after the goal.
What this means is that both sides remain in the bottom half, but Kuketa have now ended a run of mixed results with a victory. They had drawn with La Equidad and lost to Fortulaza in their previous outings, while Alianza's recent form included a goalless draw against Deportivo Pereira. This result changes nothing in the grand scheme, but it gives Kuketa something to build on.
