Racing sneak past Honka

Claud · Sep 18, 2008

Racing Santander 1-0 FC Honka

It was expected to be a celebratory night in El Sardinero as Racing Santander competed in the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history but in the end it was a rather dour affair as the hosts only just snuck past their Finnish opponents.
It's been a promising start to the domestic season so far for Racing Santander and this first ever foray into the UEFA Cup was expected to be a formality for a side of their growing calibre. However, whether it was the nerves or the opponents Los Verdiblancos made hard work of FC Honka at El Sardinero; narrowly scraping past the Finns by one goal to nil.

The scorer of the goal was the same man who bagged the equaliser in the Camp Nou at the weekend, Jonatan Pereira, but based on their possession and control of the game the hosts will be dissappointed not to have grabbed at least one more to take back to Finland.

Cagey Start

Manager Juan Ramón López Muñiz fielded a much changed side to that which so impressively salvaged a point from Barcelona at the weekend and the lack of playing time together showed from the start, with neither team wanting to risk attacking for the fear of conceding. It was Racing who dominated the first half though and despite not creating any clear cut chances the manager would have been fairly satisfied going in at the break.

Indeed, if he was concerned about the lack of goals then his mind would have been put to rest, at least for a while, just ten minutes into the second half as Pereira picked up a pass from Juanjo and cooly slotted past Peltonen and into the Honka goal. The goal sent the home fans into raptures and with the wind in their sails Racing continued to dominate proceedings, keen to get another goal to put themselves firmly in the driving seat, but they could not break down the stubborn resistance of Honka.

Mixed Reactions

As referee Fritz Stuchlik blew the final whistle and called time on both sides first ninety minutes in the competition there is little doubt that Muñiz, whilst pleased with his sides victory, will be concerned for the second leg. In Finland Honka are likely to be a different prospect to that on show in El Sardinero and manager Mika Lehkosuo will no doubt be relatively pleased with this result which keeps them firmly in contention for a place in the group stages.

Goals : 57` Pereira

Racing Santander: Coltorti, Navas, Garay, Lozarano, Sepsi, Serrano, Luccin, Edu Bedia, Juanjo, Pereira, Gonclaves

FC Honka: Peltonen, Jalasto, Hakanpaa, Heilala, Koskinen, Haarala, Turunen, Weckstrom, Vasara, Vuorinen, Perovuo

Bookings: 80` Juanjo
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Racing sneak past Honka

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