USMNT player Shaq Moore made the most of his roughly 15 minutes on the field for Tenerife on Monday night assisting on the equalizing goal as the team stole a point against ten-man Cartagena.
FC Cartagena 1 – 1 CD Tenerife
Four days after needing 120 minutes to advance in the Copa del Rey in extra time, a tired Tenerife squad once again saved it until late in their Monday night contest at midtable Cartagena.
Moore dropped back to the bench in favor of preferred right-back starter Jeremy Mellot, however provided the spark as a late substitute that pushed the team to come away from the tough game with a point.
A fairly even game saw neither team able to take the reigns, until the hosts went ahead just before the hour thanks to a moment of quality from journeyman Álex Gallar. The right-sided attacker received the ball and advanced to the edge of the area, cut back at the top of the box to avoid three Tenerife defenders and position himself in the middle, then fired a low shot to the left edge of the goal that careened off the upright and back over the line for the 1-0 lead.
With his team now in desperate need of a late goal, Tenerife head coach Luis Miguel Ramis brought on Moore in the 74th minute for Mellot, and then was almost immediately given an opening after left-sided attacker Mohammed Dauda was shown his second yellow for a careless kick to Tenerife keeper Juan Soriano’s crotch while lunging for a ball, leaving the visitors with a man-advantage for the final 15 or so minutes.
Both factors came into play as the team was able to run their hosts ragged in the final minutes, and give the American the chance to set up the 87th-minute equalizer.
Cutting forward on the right with his defender a step behind, Moore launched a cross towards middle into a crowd of players. Victor Mollejo couldn’t get his head onto the ball at the near post, but Enric Gallego was just behind his strike partner, and extended his left leg to poke it over the line.
While Tenerife will be elated following the late result, they nevertheless have dropped two places to fourth, still only a single point off of the two teams directly ahead. They have a luxuriously long break of five days before welcoming 16th-place Lugo on Saturday, beginning a run of three games over eight days to close out their 2021 calendar year.
