Sporting de Gijon 2 : 1 Getafe - Novo leaves it late for Gijon

Posted Sunday, November 20, 2011 by PA

Nacho Novo scored a dramatic late winner as Sporting Gijon came from behind to beat Getafe 2-1 at El Molinon.

The visitors went in front 10 minutes before half-time thanks to a fantastic individual effort from Miku, but Sporting were level just before the break as Miguel Moya failed to deal with a corner and Oscar Trejo took advantage of his weak punch to slot home.

Getafe were then controversially reduced to 10 men with half an hour remaining, with Abdel Barrada very unfortunate to be given a second yellow card for simulation after he appeared to have been bundled over inside the area. Sporting had struggled to make the most of their man advantage but finally made the breakthrough in the final minute as Moya again spilled Sebastian Eguren's shot and Novo was on hand to head in the rebound.

In contrast to many Primera Division games in recent weeks, the first half was very open, with both sides having opportunities early on. David Barral nearly continued his great run of scoring form but saw a fine effort fly just past the post on 27 minutes.

Seven minutes later Miku did get on the scoresheet with another wonderful display of his abundant talent. The Venezuelan turned Ivan Hernandez on the edge of the area before firing a shot past Juan Pablo for his fifth goal of the season.

However, the lead lasted less than 10 minutes. The home fans were up in arms as a strong penalty claim was turned down by Turienzo Alvarez, the referee instead awarding a corner - and from that set-piece Moya failed to connect properly as he attempted to punch the ball to safety and Trejo guided the rebound into the net from the edge of the area.

The Getafe goalkeeper redeemed himself early in the second period, though, as he got out well to block Nacho Cases' effort.

The game then turned in the hosts' favour as Barrada chased a ball over the top of the Sporting defence and Damian Suarez appeared to make contact with the Moroccan. However, Alvarez thought the midfielder had gone down too easily and showed him a second yellow card.

The visitors still had a great chance of their own to claim all three points, as Juan Rodriguez burst down the right and pulled the ball back for Pablo Sarabia but Pablo did well to smother the Spanish under-21 international's left-foot shot.

And Getafe were made to pay for that miss as Barral found space inside the box and laid the ball back to Eguren, with the Uruguayan's effort going straight at Moya but he could not hold on and Novo gratefully nodded the rebound into the empty net.