Updated table.....

Cartagena 1 Real Murcia 2

9 points out of 9 in a week. Now that is great form, and this was a special win in that it wasn't going to be easy against an opponent and a set of fans whose season revolves around beating Real Murcia. As expected, and from my position in the horrible, squalid, dirty and semi abandoned lower tier, Cartagena's fans seemed more intent on throwing insults and making political statements that watching a football match.

The first half was instantly forgettable. We didn't even look remotely dangerous, and Cartagena took the lead after Richi very generously gave the ball away in the wrong area. The gaves pivotal moment came just after half time, when Collantes, clean through, was thwarted by the excellent Alberto in Real Murcia's goal. That would have been 2 - 0. From then on we seemed to be in control, Jorge heading in a free kick, and Cristian "Ruso" soaring to nod home another well executed free kick. We all went bonkers!

Cartagena :
Reina
Txiki - Herrero - Abraham Paz - Kijera
Dimas - Mariano Sánchez - Toni Moral (Marc Fernández 73') - Lafuente (Iván Bolado 62')
Antón (Maldonado 81') - Collantes

Real Murcia:
Alberto
Molinero - Jorge - Amaya - Óscar Sánchez
Iturra - Richi (Cristian García 56') - Pedro (Isaac 70') - Sutil
Emilio - Chando (Cerrajería 70')

Goals
1-0 Álvaro Antón 31'
1-1 Jorge 57'
1-2 Cristian García 70'

Referee : Mr. Miranda Torres. OK.

Attendance : 12.000 at the Cartagonova stadium.

So....after the dodgy start of losing 3 games, we have gone 8 unbeaten now, and look a solid unit and are going to be very very hard to beat. Added to this we have a variety of options up front. Chando has yet to hit form, but Cristian "Ruso" Garcia looks better and better with every minute he plays.
Nice to put one over Cartagena. To come back from behind, keep them down in the relegation zone, and boost ourselves up to near the play off positions. If one image summed today up....it's Cristian's celebration of his goal....arms folded, staring at Cartagena's rabid spittle spraying hate mob, saying OI YOU LOT...AVE SOME OF THAT!

Recreativo 0 Real Murcia 2

To think that just a month or so ago the preachers of doom were calling for the managers head. I wonder what they have to say now? After 3 defeats in the first 3 games it was easy to jump on the bandwagon.....but as I said then, we had everything against us, injuries, poor refereeing, tough opponents, a lot of recently arrived players struggling to gel. In the following 7 games we have won 4, drawn 3 and lost none. That is form that only leaders Hercules can match.

Recreativo Huelva are on a bad run, hovering over the relegation zone, and therefore in need of points. Conditions were bad as it pelted down and was very windy the whole game. First half (with the wind) we seemed to control well, and maybe should have gone in 2 up. Second half (against the wind) was backs to the wall, Alberto making a couple of good saves and the post saving us on one occasion. There was even a miracle, yes, we got a penalty! Pedro missed it, but, we did get a penalty!

Recreativo:
Manu Fernández
Córcoles - Bordá - Manolo Martínez - Cifu
Álamo (Peinado 66') - Quillo - Arcas (Matamala 61') - Aitor (Fidel 46')
Pablo Sánchez - Villar

Real Murcia:
Alberto
Molinero - Oriol - Jorge - Rubén Párraga
Aguilera (Luciano 77') - Cerrajerría - Mario Marín - Emilio Sánchez (Richi 66')
Pedro - Chando (Ruso 84')

Goals:
0-1 Jorge 6'
0-2 Ruso 90'

Referee : Mr. Jesús Manzano Gil. Gave us a penalty! A feckin penalty! Hero status.

Att : Only 5.000 at the Nuevo Colombino in Huelva.

I think this result means a lot more than just the 3 points. The proverbial wet Wednesday, long trip away from home, without first choice players Iturra, Oscar Sanchez and Ivan Amaya, with a derby coming up on Sunday, it would have been easy to relax. But Iñaki Alonso has instilled a work ethic into this side. The players that came in (Aguilera, Parraga and Oriol) did a fine job. We defended cooly against the elements without becoming flustered. We showed that the squad has depth and that we can win ugly. "Ruso" came on and scored a good goal (beat the offside trap, controlled and ran well before finishing with a thumping shot)....who knows what that will do for his confidence.

Next up....Cartagena on Sunday. I suppose it is a derby because of the regional proximity and rivalry between Cartagena town and Murcia city ....more for them than us as our derbys are against Hercules and Elche. Traditionally it would have been, but this "FC Cartagena" isn't our historical rival "Cartagena FC" (small but important difference), this version was founded in 1995, and we have only played them a couple of times. But in a very spanish way they have taken the old clubs history as their own, just as the defunct "Ciudad de Murcia" would have done with Real Murcia's if the worst had happened.

So....things are looking up and on current form we are a match for anyone in the division. But remember....we are Real Murcia, and just when you think things are good, fate or luck or whatever will come along, slap us in the face, kick us in the balls, throw us to the floor and jump up and down on our sorry arses. JUst as long as it's not on Sunday, i'm fine with that.

Real Murcia 3 Villarreal B 1

I dislike games against "B" teams. They are full of very talented young players, and have no fear whatsoever, results simply aren't important to them. In Spain there is no reserve league - reserve sides are just on a different rung of the same ladder (Villarreal and Barcelona have their B sides in Segunda, and segunda B is full of larger clubs B sides). There are two thing that are wrong with this. Firestly there teams, when April and May come around, as they can't be promoted so tend to roll over easily when it suits them (or take the suitcase full of cash and fight very very hard. You never know). Secondly it gives their first-teams access to a full squad of second division players, whilst others teams have no such posibility. Surely if you are on the same ladder, you can't play for 2 clubs?

Real started well and scored early with an Oscar Sanchez header. Then promply went to sleep. Villarreal equalized with a fortunate goal after a couple of rebounds fell their way, then Oscar Sanchez popped up in the area again to push home after Sutil had put Chando through, his shot coming back off the bar into Oscar's path. Strange that a full back should be getting his name on the scoresheet, not once, but twice. There were still 20 odd minutes remaining when Iturra was sent off. It looked like we were going to have a tough time, but up came Emilio Sanchez with a majestic free kick (his third direct free kick goal this season) to remove any doubts that the 3 points were staying at home.

Real Murcia:
Alberto
Molinero - Jorge - Iván Amaya - Óscar Sánchez
Cerrajería (Aguilera 74') - Iturra - Richi - Sutil (Pedro 61')
Emilio Sánchez (Isaac 85') - Chando.

Villarreal B:
Mariño
Pere (Guerrero 82') - Lejeune - Kiko - Costa
Llorente - Toribio - Vázquez (Kike López 57') - Castellani (Jordi Pablo 71')
Joselu - Airam.

Goals:
1-0 Óscar Sánchez 2'
1-1 Airam 37'
2-1 Óscar Sánchez 44'
3-1 Emilio Sánchez 84'

Referee: Mr. Melero López. We are just going to have to deal with the fact that we get absolutely nothing from the men in black/yellow/red. Again a referee was permissive to rough foul play against Real Murcia, Villarreal made three or four bad tackles that merited yellow cards, yet as usual it was our first foul that drew punishment. He was quick and very happy to show Iturra his second yellow - two fouls, two yellows for the Chilean. Whatever partizan feelings you may have about how the refs persecute your side, you have to say that Spanish refereeing is in deep crisis. They just can't be this bad without practice. Evidently they are being badly guided, as there is zero appreciation that they should try to let the game flow, have no obligation to blow for a foul when players are challenging for the ball, are clueless about playing advantage, and have no need whatsoever for the theatrical cardwaving. Mr. Melero Lopez was so bad that he must have had the Spanish equivalent of "you're not fit to referee" ringing in his ears as he scurried off to the dressing rooms at half time as it was sung loudly by everyone present. He was ridiculous.

Attendance : 8.870

Huesca 2 Real Murcia 2

I suppose a draw after going 2 - nil down isn't a bad result. But when you look at the game you have to think that we should have won all three points. Huesca's first goal was a gift from the referee, awarding the softest penalty ever, despite the fact no Huesca player even claimed it. Oscar Sanchez may have touched the attacker ever so lighty, but never enought to merit a penalty. For the second we fell asleep. After then it was the Emilio show. He scored an excellent free-kick, and then blasted in from just outside the box to level the scores. After that...well, we seemed to sit back.

HUESCA:
Bernardo
Sastre - Rivas - Josetxo - Clavero
Javi Martínez (Toni 61') - Camacho - Luis Helguera - Gilvan (Jokin Esparza 61')
Roberto - Tariq (Molina 34')

REAL MURCIA:
Alberto
Molinero - Jorge - Amaya - Óscar Sánchez
Iturra - Richi - Isaac Jové (Cerrajería 66') - Emilio Sánchez (Rubén Párraga 82')
Pedro (Cristian García 71') - Chando

GOALS:
1-0 Camacho 18' (pen)
2-0 Luis Helguera 21'
2-1 Emilio Sánchez 29'
2-2 Emilio Sánchez 57'

REFEREE: Mr. Mariscal Sánchez (Andaluz). Same shit different week.

I know this is just going to sound like a whinge that every fan makes about referees sooner or later....but his is just getting ridiculous. We had another good shout turned down yesterday, so we are now 0 from 13....0% awarded in favour. We have had 4 shouts against us (I'm not calling yesterday's a shout as no-one did) so we are 4 from 4 pens awarded against us...100%. Now you can say I'm biased (and I am), but that would only make the statistic look slightly better. The fact is that if the cliché that "it all evens itself out in the end" is right, these figures should be 50/50....and they are a long way from that. From my blinkered view we are being punished for something, I don't have a clue what. It can't be that the mearest touch (v Huesca), or an accidental handball (v Valladolid) are penalties against us, yet our players can be clobbered by opposition keepers (v Xerez), have a defender block a cross like a volleyball player (Numancia) or have a leg broken by a defender(v Elche) and play be waved on.

It's about time someone in the club (owner Jesús Samper, for example) thumped their fist on the table and said "enough is enough!" and asked for an explanation. The three examples I mention were so obvious, so definate, so 100% stick on, that one can only have thoughts of conspiracies, however absurd I always find those theories. But i'll sit while I wait for him to do so, as it won't happen. Samper has too many business self-interests with the Real Federación to risk rocking the boat in any shape or form. So do we as supporters have to burn some barricades or smash some windows to have our voice heard? That's not the way....but the total inaction of the club's owner and directors is extremely frustrating.

It's as they say in Spain....."el que no llora, no mama"....a baby who doesn't cry, gets no milk.....and it's about time we had had a good old snotty wet loud sob in the ears of anyone that matters.

Photo : Emilio Sanchez (19 He's magic!), is mobbed after scoring.

Funny how in the week running up to the game I was really looking forward to the match. Evidently I had forgotten that this was Xerez who were visiting. Now as far back as I can remember, I would say more than a decade, Xerez have always been terrible visitors.....always looking to waste time, playact, use the dark arts and foul cosistently....and yesterday was no different. It seemed that every time Real broke, or made space, or beat a man....the little tug, the snide foul, the clip of an ankle or the crude obstruction came about in order to give Xerez time to get back a reorganize to defend the dead ball. The constant fouling got beyond a joke towards the end of the first half, of course it all went unpunished except for the award of free kicks. We huffed and puffed, play well at times, but just seemed to be nervous in front of goal. Our best chance came whn Chando, playing his first minutes of the season, lobbed goalwards only to see Doblas pull of a great save. Xerez rarely threatened with any danger.

Real Murcia:
Alberto
Molinero - Jorge - Amaya - Óscar Sánchez
Iturra - Emilio - Cerrajería (Aguilera 83') - Richi (Isaac 79')
Pedro - Cristian (Chando 62')

Xerez:
Doblas
Cámara (Campano 55') - Robusté - Lombán - Mendoza
Bruno - Rueda - Capi (Codero 82') - Redondo
Israel (Óscar Díaz 65') - José Mari

Referee: Mr. Arias López. Just unbelievable, the worst of a very poor bunch so far. Let Xerez get away with constant niggly fouling, gave a series of stange decisions, blew for a lot of really soft fouls, didn't let the game flow. One wonders what on earth they are being taught. Frustrated everyone.

Att : 8.878

Again a referee failed to see another 2 good shout for penalties. One a pretty clear handball, the second an absolute stick on, the keeper rushing out and literally bundling over an attacker. I don't understand. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but....the facts make you think. In 7 league games we have had a dozen good penalty shouts, of which 7 or 8 I consider very awardable. None have been given. Thats 0%. Now....against us I can remember 4 penalty shouts, 3 of which have been awarded. Thats 75%. It just seems that any minimal contact is a pen against, but as yet we haven't been able to present a signed confession form a defender in order to get one in our favour. These things should even themselves out over a season....but this looks very very lopsided. At least we managed to finish a game with 11 men.

Photo : The magnificent Manuel "Colocho" Iturra. Again looks to be on another level to the 21 other players on the pitch.

Award for Iñaki Alonso

News today is that Real Murcia coach Iñaki Alonso's work has been recognized with the award of the Ramón Cobo prize. This is awarded by the the Managers committee of the Real Federación de Fútbol to a single coach from first, second and segunda B. It's like the managers vote for their manager of the year. I have to say it's very well deserved. Congratulations, Iñaki, getting Real Murcia out of Segunda B was a massive achievement given the amount of pressure. To have done it at the first attempt and with record numbers.....he deserves every plaudit he gets.

Photo : Iñaki Alonso. He's magic, you know.

Las Palmas 1 Real Murcia 1

So that's 3 matches unbeaten after our unlucky start. You have to say that Las Palmas had most of the chances (Alberto was in great form) but that late in the game it was Real who looked more liekly to take all 3 points. If we could just steer clear if injuries and get a break from the referees (again a doubtful but probably justifiably awarded penalty against us, never a sending off but Oriol saw a red card). In 6 games we have had minimum 8 good claims for pens, 5 of which you could say were indiscutable, and none awarded. Against.....4 claims, 4 awards. This has to balance itself out sooner or later. Unless there is a hidden agenda....(which I doubt).

I think we are still improving, and are going to be tough to beat home or away. "Colocho" Iturra is a class act...suspect that if we don't obtain promotion (more than likely given our objective is consolidation) we will be playing in Primera next year....he just seems to be one step ahead in anticipation, coolness on the ball, speed over short distance, decisionmakimg and combination of team play. We need to have Sutil fit (he was injured in training and will be out for almost a month), as Pedro, who can be brilliant, is too Jekyl and Hyde and was at his erratic worst on Saturday. Emilio Sanchez scored a good goal from a free kick...leaving the keeper flat footed, but I think for away games Aguilera should be in the starting 11, as he puts in the mileage and will disrupt a lot of opponent attacks. We looked a bit weak in that department, hence the number of Las Palmas chances.

Las Palmas:
Barbosa
Pignol - Ruymán - Diego Herner - Vitolo
Sergio Suárez (Quiroga, 46') - David González (Artiles 46') - Guerrero (Hernán 82') - Javi Castellano
Juanpe - Viera

Real Murcia:
Alberto
Oriol - Ivan Amaya - Jorge - Óscar Sánchez
Mario Marín - Iturra - Emilio Sánchez (Ruso 72') - Pedro
Richi (Aguilera 76') - Borja (Molinero 57')

Goals:
0-1 Emilio Sánchez 36'
1-1 Vitolo (pen) 53'

Referee: Mr. Dámaso Arcediano Monescillo. Too quick to send Oriol off for what was only really a yellow. Bookings for Real players Amaya, Emilio Sánchez, Iturra, Pedro and Mario Marín.

Att : 9.132

Interesting to read our "friends" in the local press. Yesterday the headline was "One Chance, One Goal" and followed with criticism of the lack of chances created. Today it's "Can't Keep a Clean Sheet". Clearly they are out to put a negative slant on everything, but the arguments are wafer thin and don't stand up to scrutiny (we had at least 4 good chances I can remember, for example).

Anyhow....onwards and upwards, Xerez come to town on Saturday (6 p.m. at the New Condomina). Let hope we can continue the unbeaten run.