High risk match, yes. But not only in terms of the high environmental pressure and the confluence in El Maulí, this coming Sunday starting at six in the afternoon, of two fans capable of neutralizing the fiercest rival (Antequera CF snatched from Castellón the only points that the leader has given up to date). Málaga CF will visit the Antequera fiefdom with both squads in a play off position.
The two teams will arrive with very different feelings. The green and white lost the first two league games, against the affiliates of Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid, and since then they have been a sensation. Its status as a newly promoted team does not prevent Antequera CF from having been able to accumulate seven games without losing, with four wins in the last five games.
For its part, Pellicer’s men saw late this Sunday how their gap against Castellón was already extended to five points. The leader won in their stadium against Atlético de Madrid B (2-0). Saturday’s draw against Real Madrid Castilla (0-0) It also distances UD Ibiza, who with their three points against Recreativo Granada (0-1) is now, in second position, three points away of the Malaguistas.
Just behind Málaga CF is, fourth, an Algeciras team that narrowly defeated AD Ceuta in the derby (1-0). Those from Campo de Gibraltar, who will visit La Rosaleda and El Maulí in December, are two points behind the blue and white team and maintain a three-point lead over Antequera CF. The squad led by the young Javier Medina has ousted the aforementioned Ceuta team this weekend from fifth place, which also gives the right to fight for promotion to the Second Division.
This Sunday they visited a UD Melilla that has not yet won in front of its fans. A penalty goal was enough for the three points to fly to the city of Torcal. This is how the Malaguistas and Antequeranos will face each other on Sunday with five points difference in the qualifying tablesomething that was not imaginable when the third league matchday had been reached and the seconds were colisas with just one point earned in the Colombino.
There will be those who at that time would not bet at all on being able to see the first Malaga derby with so much qualifying tension, in direct fight for promotion. However, in the second matchday defeat against the Madrid reserve team, the sensations in the green and white locker room were very positive.. There was territorial dominance and chances with El Maulí without available seats, so that the fans began to believe in their players in the face of the enormous challenges that this journey in Primera RFEF would entail.
But this Antequera CF does not surprise the Malaguistas who this past August enjoyed the provincial derby in which the Costa del Sol Trophy was contested.. On the grass of La Rosaleda the hosts won, but in a very difficult way (2-1). At this point in the summer there were already those who ventured that the Antequerans were possible judges of the hypothetical blue and white promotion. And they were not so wrong. The first historic derby in the category, for now, is already going to measure very fit rivals.