Deportes Copiapó saw off Curicó Unido 4-0 in the Primera B's regular season round 21 on Sunday evening. The hosts opened the scoring early and never looked back, with Curicó's task made impossible by two red cards in the second half. The result leaves Copiapó on 30 points in tenth place, while Curicó remain in thirteenth with 21 points after 23 matches.
M. Lopez had the match in his sights from the opening whistle. He struck in the seventh minute and doubled his tally by the fourteenth, giving the home side a commanding start. Curicó responded with a substitution at the nineteenth minute, bringing on L. Benegas, but the visitors could not find a foothold. By then, the scoreline already told the story.
Things came to a head around the half-hour mark. R. de La Fuente collected his second yellow card in the thirty-ninth minute after a booking sixteen minutes earlier, and Curicó were reduced to ten men. The visitors lost their composure, and a second red card followed at the seventy-second minute when C. Bustamante was sent off. To be fair, Curicó had been under pressure all afternoon.
Palacios restored the two-goal cushion in the sixty-seventh minute, and Kimura added a fourth in the seventy-sixth. Curicó made three substitutions in quick succession at the seventy-third and eightieth minutes, but the damage was done. Copiapó had opened them up with ease and handed a debut performance to Kimura's late contribution.
The statistics showed why the result was not a surprise. Copiapó registered 87 attacks compared to Curicó's 57, and nine shots on target against just four. Both sides claimed nine corners and zero offside calls, but the difference in finishing was stark. Possession sat at 50-50, but the hosts made their chances count.
The win extends Copiapó's recent form, which had included a 4-1 victory over Deportes Temuco and a draw with San Luis. Curicó's run of results has been less consistent, with only one win in their last five matches. The gap between the sides in the table widened to nine points, and the visitors now face a difficult run in their search for points.