Santo Domingo beat Cumbayá 2:1 in the Relegation Group stage of Liga Pro Serie B on Thursday. The result keeps both sides in the hunt as the table tightens with only a handful of matches left to play. Cumbayá came into the fixture sitting tenth with twenty-six points, two behind their hosts who occupied eighth place.
Cumbayá were reduced to ten men after a dismissal, and that shifted the balance of the game. To be fair, they had created more chances from open play, but the numerical disadvantage meant they could not capitalise on their superiority in shots on target. Santo Domingo saw the game out despite being outshot on target four to seven.
The statistics tell one story, the result another. Santo Domingo registered seventy-three attacks against seventy for Cumbayá, but possession remained evenly split at forty-eight to fifty-two percent. Shots off target were equal at two apiece, yet Cumbayá's seven attempts on goal versus Santo Domingo's four did not translate into more than a single goal. By then the red card had changed everything.
What matters now is the gap between the two clubs. Santo Domingo move to thirty points with twenty-two games played, while Cumbayá remain on twenty-six. The relegation battle is tightening, and every point carries weight in these final stretches of the season.
Both sides arrived with mixed recent form. Santo Domingo had beaten 22 de Julio 3:0 and drawn with Cumbayá 3:3 in their previous encounter, while Cumbayá had gone goalless against LDU Portoviejo and lost 3:0 to Atlético. Neither team looked comfortable coming in, but the home side managed to close out the result when it mattered.