CD Vitoria secure promotion to Segunda B
The club's feeder team wrote their names into the history books after seeing off Atlético Astorga
CD Vitoria will next season take their place in Segunda B after overcoming Atlético Astorga in the play-off final for promotion to the Spanish third tier. The SD Eibar feeder team succumbed to a 2-1 reverse today at La Eragudina, but they made their 1-0 first-leg victory count to prevail on aggregate and seal a historic promotion.
Eibar will once again boast a feeder team in Segunda B, after Eibar B spent the 2000/01 and 2001/02 seasons in the third tier of Spanish football.
Despite having claimed first blood in last weekend's first-leg clash at Ipurua, CD Vitoria knew that they'd be in for a tough test against an Astorga side that would look to make the most of home advantage as they sought to turn the tie around, and this is exactly how things panned out.
The home faithful urged their side on as the hosts came out all guns blazing. However, the Armeros' feeder team displayed all of their character and stood firm in the face of the pressure. With just seven minutes on the clock, the referee chalked off Imanol Sarriegi's effort. This was a warning shot from Vitoria, who looked to put the tie beyond the opposition right from the off.
On 19 minutes, Vitoria stamped their authority on proceedings by taking the lead. Óscar Conde it was who put the visitors into the ascendancy and bring them a step closer to achieving their promotion dream whilst at the same time draining the hosts' impetus.
Astorga were left with no option but to push up and press hard in search of a goal to engineer a way back into the tie. The home side now needed to score three times without reply. On 42' Roberto Puente showcased his goalscoring prowess to haul the hosts level.
Astorga had the chance to have go on and taken the lead before half-time, but the sides ultimately went in all square. After the break, the game became tetchy, with the Astorga coach sent to the stands after getting into an argument with the referee.
Vitoria made a bright start to the second period and carved out a couple of chances to have put the tie to bed.
There was real tension throughout the whole 90 minutes, which was a reflection of exactly what was at stake here. To add even further spice to things, the referee picked up an injury with 10 minutes remaining, which meant that 10 minutes of injury time had to be added.
As the minutes ticked by, Astorga poured forward in search of a goal to give themselves hope. Vitoria's Josué Dorrio was shown a second yellow on 90' as the visitors were reduced to 10 men. Just two minutes later, Markel Areitio, who had earlier come to his side's rescue on several occasions, was powerless to prevent Puente from firing the hosts in front on 92'.
With eight minutes remaining and the aggregate score level at 2-2, which would be enough to see Vitoria promoted, Astorga launched balls into the box in search of the goal which would see them go up, with even the hosts' goalie making an appearance in the visitors' area. However, it was CD Vitoria who ultimately prevailed to clinch glory.
Vitoria were today made to battle for 100 minutes to seal this sought-after and famous promotion to Segunda B. The SD Eibar feeder team today etched their names into the history books at La Eragudina to cap off what has been a tremendous campaign.