The Oscenses tried until the end, but this time the extra time did not bring a gift. SD Huesca had to settle with earning one more point against Amorebieta. A draw that feels bitter after facing a direct rival, especially in a weekend where the tight results did not give us any break. The visitors’ goalkeeper became a hero against Hidalgo’s side, especially when the Azulgranas were pressing the most. They had found some verticality in the final yards, and Joaquin piled up some dangerous attacks that ultimately ended without reward.
A header by Pulido at the far post from a cross by Gerard Valentin, just at the half-hour mark, was about to break the deadlock, but the Amorebieta goalkeeper was alert to deflect it away. The first shot on target of the match served to reinvigorate the game, which until then had been limited to endless possessions dominated by SD Huesca but which lacked bite. The captain’s first warning stirred his teammates, who started to find Gerard Valentin’s incursions to penetrate the danger zone more easily. The visitors also seemed to gain ground but without really testing Alvaro Fernandez. Vilarrasa delivered the second clear warning for the Altoaragoneses with a left-footed strike from outside the box that sailed over the crossbar. Elady also attempted a long-range shot just before halftime, but it went wide.
The second half began with a double chance for Hidalgo’s side – first thwarted by the defence against Obeng’s forced finish; and then, from a cross by Gerard Valentin, neither the striker himself nor Hugo Vallejo, who was waiting behind, could reach it. Amorebieta tried to react, calling Alvaro into action twice to save his team, experiencing moments of clear disconnection. Hidalgo sought a reaction from the bench with a triple substitution, bringing on Blasco, Enzo Lombardo and Joaquin for Juanjo Nieto, Hugo Vallejo, and Elady. It was precisely a combination between Enzo and Joaquin, where the Frenchman set up his teammate with a through ball that left him one-on-one with the goalkeeper, who managed to guess the shot. And almost like an “action-reaction,” Amorebieta also threatened with a shot that went wide. During the most intense moments, the coach replaced Iker Kortajarena with Javi Martinez, trying to find more spaces against the visitor’s defensive line. Joaquin delivered a great cross into the area that Jeremy and Pulido almost reached, and from the resulting corner, Loureiro finished the play after getting hold of the rebound, but the goalkeeper caught it. Hidalgo changed the offensive reference, bringing on Bolivar for Obeng in the last ten minutes of the match. The Azulgranas could have turned the tide of the game in Joaquin’s boots, but once again he was denied by the rival goalkeeper, forcing them to settle for a point.
