Hello everyone! Welcome to episode number 4 of this save with Barakaldo.

In this episode, we will be covering from matchday 22 to 28. We head against the toughest rivals of Segunda Division as we battle against Las Palmas, Albacete and Sevilla, all of which are fighting for the promotion spots

For starters, the news are not good

Shoot! Our best player in the squad. Sincerely hope that Exposito is able to fill for him.

Game 22

Badajoz 1 – Barakaldo 3

The first “exam” for Exposito is successful. However, judging by our start you wouldn’t be able to conclude that. A mix-up between Sangroniz and Garmendia means an advantage for Badajoz at El Vivero. Around the 30^th minute mark, we had a couple of interesting chances which we were able to capitalize and therefore, we arrive 2-1 up at half-time.

In the second half after having no luck with our shots on goal, I made a few changes, subbing in Beguiristain and Raul Calle. Txiki’s change pays off a couple of minutes later as he’s able to found his way into Badajoz’s net. On the remaining minutes, there’s a few chances either way but no more goals were scored.

TRANSFER NEWS:

By checking the player released screen, I found out that Athletic Bilbao’s youth team had released these two players, so I’m going to bid for them in the hope that they want to join our side

Born in San Sebastian, Guipuzcoa.

Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Alava.

Unfortunately, they both had offers from other teams and they just turned us down

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No worries. I have another option available

Born in Pamplona, Navarre. Surely it will take 325K, but we have it so I’m bidding.

His decision will surely come after our next match.

Game 23

Barakaldo 2 – Rayo Vallecano 1

Again Exposito with a fine match, this time even helping our team with a goal. The first half is one of the quietest I’ve ever seen so far with barely any commentary other than Andrijasevic’s goal.

In the second half, the pace started to pick up, and firstly Zamarripa and then Exposito with 20 minutes to go managed to overturn the initial result. We hold on for a valuable win.

Good one! Welcome to Barakaldo, Gorka!

Now, while Gurria is still injured, it’s time for another striker to come.

Don’t get confused with the current Belgium national team’s coach. That one was born in Zaragoza. This Roberto Martinez was born in Pamplona, Navarre and is a product of Bilbao’s youth team. His attributes look pretty sharp, definitely going for him.

Good! Welcome to Barakaldo, Roberto.

Game 24

Las Palmas 2 – Barakaldo 0

As expected, the match against Las Palmas was a rough one and to make matters worse we had Larrainzar sent off. This emboldened them and they managed to score two goals, one of them nullified. Onto the next one.

Game 25

Barakaldo 0 – Albacete 1

I did fancy my chances here but Albacete stifled us in the last minute with a goal from Yahaya. Honestly it was a fairly average game from both sides, and at the very least I expected to leave our home turf with a point but we failed to deliver.

Game 26

Sevilla 2 – Barakaldo 1

Lineup changes:

Jose Mario Bakero is fully well, so he’ll be making a return for Agustin Exposito

Sevilla completely batter us and we are lucky to get away with a just 1 goal deficit, courtesy of Bakero. One of our worst performances in this season.

Game 27

Barakaldo 1 – Logroñes 1

Lineup changes:

Aitor Iru for Gorka Sangroniz
Pedro Maria Matxon for Domingo Larrainzar (suspended due to the red card against Las Palmas)
Gorka Gonzalez for Oscar Alkorta

The stars weren’t aligned this Saturday and we couldn’t get away with the win. A stunned silence took over Lasesarre when Logroñes managed to equalize just 5 minutes from the end of the match after having cruised around for the majority of the game.

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Honestly, I was contemplating placing Roberto Martinez as a sub in the near future as I haven’t been able to extract the best performance out of him.

Game 28

Lineup changes:

Pizo Gomez for Pedro Arozarena
Juan Zamarripa for Roberto Martinez

Orense 0 – Barakaldo 3

After hitting a small slump of form, we’re back to our winning ways and in style! Matxon had a brilliant defensive game with 3 key tackles and heading out pretty much every ball that came his way. While Zamarripa had a discreet game in his return to duties, it was Gurria who came out shining by scoring two goals. Xabier Pantzeska contributed with another one to round up the 3-0 win.

Before wrapping up the episode, let’s take a quick look at the standings after this win

We’re hanging on tightly in 4^th place!

Now yes, we reached the end of episode number 4

Tune in next week for episode number 5 of this series. See ya 🙂