San Carlos ended a run of four defeats in five matches with an away win at Alajuelense, 1-0, in the fifth round of the Apertura. J. Rivera Stuart found the net in the seventy-first minute to give the visitors three points and lift them off the bottom half of the table. The result left Alajuelense in fourth place with eleven points from six games, while San Carlos moved to seventh with six points.
There was plenty of friction early on. D. Paz went into the book in the seventeenth minute, followed by K. Cerdas twenty-one minutes in, and another yellow card without a name attached in the twenty-second. R. Wilson added his caution in the twenty-fifth. By then the game had already taken on a physical edge, and it only grew more chaotic when Alajuelense made five substitutions at the hour mark — J. Aguilar, R. Cordoba, D. Paz, R. Wilson and K. Cerdas all came off together.
The visitors had looked vulnerable in their previous outings, conceding three goals to Escorpiones Belén and losing 2-1 to Saprissa. But they showed discipline when it mattered. Rivera Stuart's goal came after a period of sustained pressure, and despite Alajuelense's attempts to respond, the away side held firm. A sell-out crowd could only watch as the lead slipped away.
Alajuelense had come into this fixture having won three of their last four league games, including a 3-0 victory over Goleadores and a 3-1 win against Diriangén. Their only blemish in that run was the 1-0 defeat to Firpo on August 21st. This result ended their unbeaten spell in a different way, and now they face a question about how quickly they can recover.
The standings tell a simple story. San Carlos sit on six points with two wins from six matches, while Alajuelense hold a five-point advantage in fourth place. The gap may look comfortable, but away victories like this one are the kind that shift momentum in tight leagues. The hosts will need to regroup quickly if they want to keep their title ambitions alive.
