Valiant effort in the first half. The boys went out looking for blood and we controlled the pace of the game for the first 45 minutes. Aceval really should have done better for their first goal.. Got the wrong side of Gomez and just let him go. Rule one of defending, never let the attacker get goal-side, and that's exactly what he let him do. The ball bounced nicely for Gomez, but even from that position I thought Aceval could have done more to stop the threat.
Santos' second goal was arguably offside, but they did the very same thing in the first game - play down the throats of the CB's and beat them for pace when the ball is played to them. Thought Kocic may have done a little better, but let's not take anything away from Gomez - the lad is class. When you score in the 43rd minute you HAVE to ensure you're going in at the break without conceding another. I think that goal right at the death of the first half changed things for us. If we went got to half time 2-1 up, the game would have been hugely different in the second half.
The less said about the penalties the better. Horrifically clumsy challenge by De Guzman (you really cannot argue that it wasn't a penalty - clear as day), and then a total lapse in concentration by Aceval (again). I wonder if Milos didn't give him a shout to let him know he was behind. Under no pressure whatsoever, what he did made absolutely NO sense and was one of the worst things I've seen in football this season. That killed the game off. No idea why Plata came off at 4-2... I guess AW decided to concentrate on the weekend and admit defeat. Not the sort of thing you should be doing when you have nothing to lose by going all out.
Overall, brave, brave effort initially but a couple of very silly, avoidable mistakes cost us the game. Few things to work on at the training ground that's for sure.