Estudiantes beat Chacarita Juniors 2:0 in the Primera Nacional regular season match on Friday evening. The hosts took all three points at home, with goals from I. Vera and F. Ardiles separating the sides over ninety minutes. By then the result looked comfortable, though the match had its moments.
Vera converted a penalty at sixty-three minutes to give Estudiantes the lead. The spot-kick came after a review of an incident inside the box, and the visitors could do little to stop the finish. To be fair, Chacarita had already been dealing with a yellow card for A. Maldonado earlier in the half.
Ardiles doubled the advantage at seventy-seven minutes, finishing a move that cut through the visitors' defence. The goal came when Chacarita were still at full strength, but the momentum had clearly shifted. And here's the thing — Estudiantes had been the more organized side since the opening exchanges.
M. Leyendeker received a red card in the first minute of stoppage time for a second caution. The dismissal came late, after ninety minutes of play, and meant Chacarita had to see out the match with ten men. It was a costly moment for the visitors who had already been under pressure.
The statistics told a curious story. Chacarita registered 135 attacks compared to Estudiantes' 109, yet the hosts took eleven shots to the visitors' four. Estudiantes hit three targets; Chacarita managed three on target from just four attempts. Possession sat at fifty-four per cent for the home side.
The result keeps Estudiantes eighth on thirty-six points from twenty-eight games. Chacarita remain seventeenth on twenty-seven points, with fifteen defeats already recorded. The gap between them widens to nine points, and the visitors need the points badly in the run-in.