THE cold and wet weather provided an ideal backdrop for one of FC Torrevieja’s poorest performances of the season. That is no mean achievement, as there have been some rich pickings on that front to choose from in this current campaign.
FC Torrevieja are now facing an outside prospect of a possible relegation battle as their recent mediocre form continued with a one-nil away defeat at a team that were second from bottom in the league.
The measure of the result was that the home side had not won a match since November, but Torrevieja once again obliged with a sub standard performance, and the usual weekly sending off. They have now stretched their winless run to six games.
To be fair, Alicante were just as bad, and a set of binoculars would have been an essential piece for kit for the fans to spot the ball being hoofed up into the air on a regular basis.
Clearly the referee thought that the game needed some spicing up, and he duly obliged on the hour mark.
A home player literally threw himself to the wet surface of the Torrevieja penalty area in a dive that would have scored highly for artistic merit. Perhaps he had set an early alarm clock for the Oscar ceremony a few hours later? A spot kick was given, and Matias was given his marching orders for the “foul”, having been shown a yellow card earlier. And that goal was pretty much it.
The main excitement of the sodden evening was then the full time whistle when both sets of supporters joined forces to jeer the witless official off the field in tribute to his poor running of the game. But despite a stack of injuries and suspensions that reduced Soto’s selection options, Torrevieja at times did look like relegation fodder, but who may just have enough points on the board to avoid the trapdoor. FC Torrevieja are back at home next Sunday afternoon as they take on the improving La Nucia side, who are three points above them, in a 5.00pm kick off at the Vicente Garcia Stadium.

First things first, and I have to say that I did not go to Sunday’s match at Alicante, where we lost one-nil.
I had a long standing promise to fly back to England for my mum’s 80th birthday, and I had no doubt whatsoever that I would have been challenged severely in the testicular area if I had not made an appearance.
But I did also use my weekend in trying to set up one or two pre-season friendly games against English clubs, and I will carry on doing some phone-bashing here to get some lively opposition for FC Torrevieja over the summer.
It has though been a very sad week for me, when you remember just how important life is.
I was shocked to hear about the death of the Macclesfield manager, Keith Alexander at the age of just 53.
I got to know Keith very well as a colleague and a friend, when I was his chief coach at Peterborough United four years ago. I know it sounds like a cliché, but he was a lovely guy who did all the right things in the game of football.
I would describe him as a big cuddly teddy bear who got the respect of the players and knew the lower leagues inside out.
We had a really good working relationship and we enjoyed sharing a beer or two.
However, I found his eating habits very predictable! It was always chips with everything!
As a black manager, the issue of race never never cropped up.
There were no chips(of the proverbial nature) on his shoulder, and he was only interested in finding and developing players from whatever background they came from. He never used his race as an excuse for anything.
Keith would tell me about the problems that he had with his brain aneurysm which he suffered in 2003, and it was clear to me that he was at times struggling three years on at Peterborough. He would sometimes forget something that he might have said or done only five minutes before, and he always did fear a severe relapse.
To his total credit, he got on with his job with no complaints, which is a real mark of character. My sympathies go out to his family and everybody that knew and worked with Keith in the world of football.
Keith’s death has also reminded me of how few opportunities there are these days for a lower league or non-league manager to be given a chance by the bigger clubs in England.
Despite his wealth of experience, his name never seemed to be whispered as say a possible Championship manager.
I remember chatting about this to David Sullivan when he was at Birmingham City. I asked why a club like his always chased a bigger name, rather than somebody who had had success at a lower level. His reply was that the fans would not accept somebody like that, because they wanted a big name, even though that big name could waste a lot of money and achieve absolutely nothing. Perhaps its time for some of the teams to look closer to home and down a division or two when it comes to picking their next manager. If nothing else, it might be the difference as to whether they stay in business or not!

JAVEA 2 ALONE DE GUARDAMAR 0
Not since 29 Nov 09 at Albatera, have Guardamar fans had a victory of any sort to celebrate. This rapid decline in fortunes needs to be arrested immediately, as relegation is now staring them firmly in the face. Following this latest defeat at Javea, they are now only 1 place off the bottom 3, with only 9 games remaining to salvage the points required for safety. Manager Carlos Perez must be fearing the worst - if not, why not? His lack of motivation and abysmal team selections/tactics are if not solely, at least partly responsible for his teams dramatic fall from grace.
They desperately need a strong leader both on and off the pitch, therefore urgent remedies need to be put in place before next weeks match - watch this space!!
Things started badly, even before a ball had been kicked in anger!! A mix up resulted in the team arriving with the wrong kit, requiring a loan of an all blue strip from the Javea archives (a move which displeased those of the Celtic persuasion within the club!!).
On the pitch, it was soon a case of, 'blue, blue, my world is blue', when after only 7 mins, Alone defender Alberto inexplicably bundled straight into the back of a Javea player inside the penalty area. This rush of blood to the head was suitably punished when Valentin easily dispatched the resultant spot kick. Ten mins later, Alone skipper and man of the match Bonmati, hit a scorcher which skimmed the top of the bar. Enter Julen. In recent weeks, the clubs no 1 keeper has been nothing short of a revelation, but how quickly one can go from hero to zero. His mad rush to the edge of the penalty area, enabled Javea striker Ivars to latch on to a through ball, then score goal no 2 with ease after 32 mins. Then, only 4 mins before the interval, it was his turn to 'take out an opponent' inside the penalty area. Not only did the ref award another penalty, but he brandished a straight red card to the crestfallen Julen.
Substitute keeper Michel became an instant hero, when he superbly saved the delayed penalty.
Surprisingly, Alone played better with only 10 men in the 2nd half, and could easily have scored 2 or 3 late goals. Javea also had chances to increase their lead, but it was Bonmati who went so close on 88 mins with a header from a free kick which just missed the target. A minute later Nino did put the ball in the net, but his effort was disallowed for offside, leaving Alone to make the long journey home pointless (in more ways than one!!). After weeks of substandard refereeing, it is nice to report that the match officials were excellent.
Next up for Alone is a crucial relegation battle against fellow strugglers Alfaz del Pi. Can Alone win their first home match since 27 Sep? Can manager Perez break a sweat and stop resembling a cardboard cutout? Can those long suffering Alone fans at last have something to sing about? All this and more will be revealed on Sun 14 Feb ko 4.30 pm, at Las Rebosas, Guardamar. Be there, or be square!!
Please contact Steve on 656 579 423 for further match details.

Torre Ladies took on a high flying Aspe side on unfamiliar territory this Sunday, as the league made the ladies play their home game on the Montesinos pitch as a result of fans running on the pitch on their last home game.
Aspe took only a few minutes to show how far superior they were and at times passed the ball around the Torre girls as if they weren't there. There wasn't much we could comment on from our girls on the first half performance and we went in 0 – 5 down at half time.
The second half showed our girls coming out with a bit of fighting spirit and for the first 10 minutes of the half Torre played some slick passing moves of their own that torn the defence of Aspe apart.
The first goal came with a good patience passing move from the back right up the pitch with Sam smashing in a great shoot from the outside right corner of the box. The second come a few moments after that when again a good passing move ending with Maria getting brought down in the box. Jessi calmly put the penalty away. 2 – 5 game on. It wasn't to be the great come back though as Aspe recovered well and went on to dominate the game again and also went on the score 3 more goals. If Torry are to survive in this league they will all have to pull together and try to play the way a lot of us on the stands know they can instead of playing for themselves. Too much individual performances and not enough team effort.
Torre are now awaiting the date and venue for the second half that still needs to be played against Elda.
For more information please see our club website www.fctorreviejafemenino.web.officelive.com