New season starts with a narrow draw to Mallorca

Well after the pre season disappointment the week before, MCs were desperate to get something out of the game against tough opposition. The watchword was stability, we needed to get grip on positioning, and working with each other, keep it simple stupid!!!!
Hugo was in goal again, Cedric RB, James and Doctor CB, and Terry LB more for his gob than ability. Midfield was Victor Guapo, Lee and Mickey were reunited in the centre, and Lluis on the left. After Brendans late showing with a cold, we had to rejig the forward line and have JP partner Chris up front.
The start was a little shaky, with both wingers drifting inside and the centre of the park was very cluttered. It meant that their wingers were running at us with impunity, and defensively we looked rattled. Hugo pulled off a series of good saves with a couple of 1 on 1 stops with the Mallorca striker. It wasnt long though before our nervousness let us down and one of their strikers nipped through and scored a cracker. 1-0 Mallorca.
We didnt let the heads go down though and after swapping Lluis and JP, we looked a little more balanced, and had some width which allowed the central midfielders to start controlling the game. It wasnt long before Victor Guapo pulled up injured and had to be helped off the pitch. On came Caj to explosively change the game. Hard running and general awkwardness and the Mallorca left suddenly looked shaky. All match we had been over elaborate up front, when simple balls through to our speedy strike force would cause all sorts of problems. The ball came to Caj, one defense splitting pass later, 1-1 (Chris if i remember correctly).

The second half started brightly again and some hard running again earned us a few chances but Mallorca were slowing down and had lost midfield completely. Terrys decision to stop playing offside and man mark the forwards was paying dividends and the mistakes were few and far between. Caj on the right, overlapping with Cedric was causing problems, and we had several set pieces. One dropped on chris who looked to have lost out, but a very tenacious JP behind him scuffed and booted it over the line. A deserved 2-1 collins. At this point, we needed fresh legs, Mickey who had been booked earlier on for an outrageous "welcome to Sunderland" tackle was replaced for his own benefit with Victor Maquina, and an exhausted JP made way for Walther. The game progressed for a while with nothing much happening, apart from Pizarro´s Man Utd like timekeeping (im sure we played 60 minutes in the 2nd half). Juan came on for Chris to harry and annoy the defenders for a bit, and it looked like a good 3 points for MCs, then in the final minute, a picture perfect goal in the top corner from their striker, an uncleared cross, badly dealt with and tired legs. It was a shame, but at 2-2 we can hold our heads high, good game against good opposition, and a bloody improvement on last week.
Man of the match......Hugo, some fantastic saves!!!!