Almeria, Cordoba still waiting for La Liga victories after stalemate
Almeria and Cordoba are both still waiting for their first wins of the new Primera Division season after drawing 1-1 at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterraneos.
Edgar Mendez gave Almeria a 12th-minute lead but Federico Cartabia equalized soon after for newly-promoted Cordoba and that proved to be the end of the scoring - although both sides went close to second-half winners. Fernando Soriano glanced a header against the Cordoba crossbar with 16 minutes to go and then, in the final of four minutes of stoppage time, visiting substitute Nabil Ghilas broke through only to be denied by a fine save from Ruben Martinez.
The result leaves both teams with two points from three games and sitting just above the relegation zone. Cordoba threatened first with a long-range shot from Cartabia that former Barcelona custodian Ruben made a mess of saving before gathering at the second attempt, but it was Almeria who took the lead.
Ximo's deep cross from the right picked out Edgar, who had wandered back from an offside position, at the far post and his side-footed finish beat goalkeeper Juan Carlos Martin with the aid of a slight deflection. Almeria's advantage lasted barely seven minutes, though, before Cordoba drew level through Cartabia.
The Argentina Under-20 winger was tackled as he attempted to unleash a shot from the edge of the box but the ball fell to Fidel Chavez, who immediately put Cartabia through on goal and he drilled a low right-footed shot under Ruben. That was the way the score stayed until half-time although Almeria felt they should have had a penalty when Wellington Silva went down under a challenge from Jose Angel Crespo, while at the other end Mike Havenaar headed a good chance wide.
Almeria enjoyed the better start to the second half and should really have taken the lead in the 51st minute, with a heavy touch from Tomer Hemed allowing Martin to come out and block at the expense of a corner. From that corner Edgar made a mess of a good shooting opportunity before Almeria went even closer in the 74th minute when Soriano's header from a Jose Antonio Verza corner hit the top of the bar.
That was a big let-off for Cordoba, but Almeria received a similar reprieve in the last attack of the match when Ruben managed to turn behind Ghilas' piledriver.
