With Jen in the US and my work all being remote, there was very little incentive to hang about in the UK. A flight to Malaga meant instantly better weather and after picking up a hire car I headed down the coast to Algeciras.
It’s a port town, with ferries across to North Africa. If I’d planned ahead a little better, I could have taken in a game in Morocco the following day. As I’d already made future hotel and match ticket bookings, I stuck with my original plan instead and had a wander through an industrial estate to the Estadio Nuevo Mirador.
The fixture was in the Primera Division Group 2 which is basically the third division south. You can’t really get much further south in Spain than where I was without getting your feet wet. Home side Algeciras, in sixth place, were taking on visitors Recreativo de Huelva, who were one place and two points ahead of them in the table.
The ground holds 7,300 people with one big, covered stand and eight rows of uncovered seating running around the rest of the stadium. I was in the eighth row, but as we were all raised up a few feet, it would have been a decent view even from the front row. Algeciras were in that classic Spanish combination of red and white shirts with blue shorts, with Recreativo in blue and white stripes.
There were plenty of New Year greetings going on and a decent turnout from the away side behind the goal to my right. The Algeciras mascot was putting himself about, although I couldn’t work out what he was meant to be. He most resembled a gate post, which seems unlikely, but perhaps a sponsor was a fencing contractor.
Recreativo squandered some very good chances early on before eventually taking the lead ten minutes into the second half. It looked miles offside to me, with possibly even two of their players straying well beyond the last defender, but with no VAR in the third tier it counted.
The visitors should have put the game beyond the reach of Algeciras, squandering multiple chances. It came back to haunt them a quarter of an hour from time when the home side equalised.
The joy around me was short-lived as a shot from the edge of the box moments later restored Recreativo’s lead. That was the cue for people to head off home. The home fans that stayed were rewarded with a second equaliser after some pinball in the box before Recreativo took the lead for a third occasion in added time to nick the points. That one looked offside as well.
It was a great evening for visiting fans and neutrals like me, but not such a happy new year for the home supporters.
Tags: Algeciras, Fence post mascots
Trail of the Lion King 
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