Almeria 1 : 1 Racing - Almeria held by 10-man Santander

Posted Thursday, March 03, 2011 by PA

Almeria and Racing Santander shared a 1-1 draw in a game both teams will feel they should have won in the Primera Division.

Racing played with a man down from the 17th minute, when Henrique was sent off, but took the lead through Gonzalo Colsa after 37 minutes.

Adrian Gonzalez missed a penalty for Almeria six minutes later, but Albert Crusat levelled after 64 minutes.

Racing got off to a terrible start when Henrique saw red for hauling down Pablo Piatti, who would have been clean through.

But the Cantabrians, transformed since the arrival of coach Marcelino Garcia Toral, took the lead when Colsa, who was returning from suspension, beat Diego Alves with an acrobatic effort from Manuel Arana's free-kick.

Racing then missed a wonderful chance to go two up after Carlos Garcia had brought down Ariel Nahuelpan, but Gonzalez saw his spot-kick saved by Alves and the locals lived to fight another day.

The second half was an entirely different affair, with Almeria very much in the ascendancy.

The Andalusians, who started the day at the bottom of the table, equalised through winger Crusat, who controlled the ball on the edge of the box and lashed an unstoppable left-footed drive into the bottom corner.

The home side dominated entirely after that against a tiring Racing rearguard, but the visitors somehow held on.

Kalu Uche was guilty of two glaring misses and also saw another effort cleared off the line by Colsa, while Racing also had keeper Tono to thank for a number of brilliant interventions in the closing stages.

Michel and Henok Goitom also came close, but Almeria were left frustrated in the end and remain bottom of the table after 27 rounds of the Primera Division.

Racing, meanwhile, now have 30 points and are five clear of the drop zone.