Getafe 1 - 1 Espanyol - Honours even at Coliseum

Posted Saturday, February 18, 2012 by PA

Getafe and Espanyol shared the spoils after an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Alfonso Perez Coliseum.

The hosts had the better of the opening period but went behind midway through the second half when Alvaro Vasquez broke the offside trap to fire past Miguel Angel Moya.

Getafe were handed the chance to reply in the 70th minute as Thievy Bifouma brought down Miku inside the area and the Venezuelan crashed home the resulting penalty.

Kiko Casilla denied the hosts a winner with a fantastic double save from Daniel Guiza and Jaime Gavilan, and despite having Ernesto Galan sent off inside the final 10 minutes Espanyol comfortably held on for a point.

Getafe coach Luis Garcia had stressed the importance of getting back on track after two consecutive defeats and his side nearly made the perfect start as they had the ball in the net after just two minutes, but Abdel Barrada's effort was ruled out for handball.

Guiza was next to threaten as he managed to direct the ball goalwards with his thigh from Mane's cross but Casilla got across to make a decent save.

Espanyol grew into the game as the half went on and had the better chances towards the end of the first period as Ndri Romaric blazed over after Moya had denied Coutinho before the Brazilian saw his header from Vladimir Weiss' cross flash wide.

Miku was unlucky not to give Getafe the lead after the break as Casilla did brilliantly to parry his header from close range before easily collecting the Venezuelan's follow-up attempt.

The visitors recovered from that assault on their goal to hit the front after 66 minutes. Hector Moreno's long ball over the top found Alvaro and he marked his return from injury with his eighth goal of the season.

The lead only lasted four minutes though as Miku dispossessed Thievy inside the Espanyol box and the youngster pulled the Getafe striker down. Miku took the spot-kick himself and his powerful effort went in off the bar.

The hosts came closest to getting the winner with 15 minutes left as Casilla got down fantastically to beat away Guiza's low drive before recovering to tip Gavilan's header over.

Getafe continued to press after Galan had seen a second yellow card in the 81st minute but they failed to carve out another clear opportunity.