Girona took a new step towards permanence this Sunday by beating Elche 2-0 in Montilivi, with goals from Taty Castellanos and Oriol Romeu, to stand with 38 points with nine games to go and among the top ten.
Sebastián Becaccece’s team, bottom with 13 points, had chances to score, but accused their lack of goals and their fragility. Girona, on the other hand, took advantage of their gunpowder.
Míchel Sánchez’s pupils, despite signing a discreet match, celebrated their third clean sheet of the course and the second in a row, and already have an income of eleven points over relegation pending Valencia’s match against Sevilla at Mestalla.
Elche started the match on the right foot, with ambition and desire to reach the rival goal, against a Girona with problems to subdue the opponent with their combinative style and create plays. In the 14th minute, he also lost Borja García due to injury.
Right after, Paulo Gazzaniga, providential, had to stretch to send a chip from Gerard Gumbau to a corner. The Catalan midfielder, on his return home, had already searched for the goal from the edge of the area in the early stages of the game and would do it again before the break.
Girona began to wake up after half an hour with a long free-kick from Aleix García that went near the right post of Axel Werner, the starter in the visitor’s goal due to Edgar Badía’s paternity leave. Iván Martín and Javi Hernández also tested it, assisted by Arnau Martínez.
The goal for the locals, growing in the first half, came in the 45th minute, after a measured cross from Toni Villa into the heart of the area that Castellanos headed in. Werner touched the ball, but could not prevent the Argentine forward’s seventh goal in LaLiga.
Becaccece turned to Pol Lirola and Álex Collado at halftime and Elche started the second act the same as the first, with more intensity.
The Elche team monopolized the ball, cornering Girona, but accused their lack of success and goal in a header from Pere Milla, a hard shot from distance by Collado and a shot from their own half by Gumbau, omnipresent.
Elche forgave, but Girona did not. They made it 2-0 in the 68th minute through Viktor Tsygankov, after a recovery in midfield that ended in a quick transition. And he celebrated it at minute 70. Romeu picked up a rebound from the front and, first of all, he beat Werner with a shot that was as powerful as it was tight.
The marker no longer moved again. It was the fourth game in a row without losing for Girona and the fourth consecutive defeat for Elche.