Manolo Jimenez made a losing start to his tenure as Real Zaragoza coach as Racing Santander inflicted a narrow 1-0 defeat on the Primera Division strugglers.
Jimenez took over a side rock bottom of the table after the departure from the hotseat of Javier Aguirre, four points behind 19th-placed Racing and five adrift of safety.
Yet it was Racing who gave themselves a shot in the arm at El Sardinero as Bernardo Espinosa’s header in first-half injury-time proved enough to earn a welcome victory.
Racing midfielder Papa Diop had the first half-chance of the match after a distinctly tepid opening 15 minutes but fired wide from distance.
Diop continued to instigate what little moments of activity there were, before Zaragoza’s Luis Garcia shot from 25 yards fizzed just wide of Antonio Tono’s goal.
Diop’s free-kick from the left was caught by Roberto Jimenez before Adrian’s header from close range somehow went wide.
In the 30th minute Diop’s corner from the left allowed Gonzalo Colsa to drill a right-footed shot from six yards which Roberto did brilliantly to parry away to safety.
A minute into added time, the opening goal came. Adrian crossed invitingly from the left and Espinosa was perfectly placed to nod home from close range to give the hosts the lead.
After a quiet opening to the second half Racing forced a chance in the 61st minute. Adrian was again in the thick of it, shooting from 18 yards and forcing Roberto to tip the ball away.
Ruben Micael then had a chance for the visitors but his shot from the edge of the hosts’ box went wide of the right-hand post.
Angel Lafita tried to force the issue for Zaragoza with a couple of teasing crosses.
Zaragoza were struggling to really force the issue, however, as Helder Postiga’s ball into the box was cleared easily by Tono.
In the 91st minute they finally came close when Eduardo Oriol’s 25-yard smash hit the bar and bounced to safety with Tono beaten.
That was as good as it got for the strugglers, with Jairo not far away with a late shot for Racing.
Related posts: