A victory of belief

Real Sociedad secured their first win of the season this evening, beating RCD Espanyol 2-1 at Anoeta. It was a hard-fought victory that went right down to the final whistle, giving the Txuri-Urdin their first three points of the campaign.

The perfect start came after just four minutes. Barrene latched onto Oyarzabal’s assist and produced a spectacular finish across goal and into the far corner to open the scoring. Shortly afterwards, the captain had a chance to double the lead, but Dmitrović was there to deny him. The Txuri-Urdin continued to push forward and came close to a second when El Hilali headed towards his own goal, with Dmitrović and the crossbar combining to keep the ball out. Then, just as the game was heading into half-time and from one of Espanyol’s few attacking moves, Roberto met Javi’s cross first time to level the score.

The equaliser lifted the visitors, who looked to build on the momentum and turn the game around. But just when the match was at its most difficult, the captain stepped up once again. Oyarzabal produced a superb ball for Óskarsson, who made no mistake, firing a fine finish across goal and into the far corner. The Txuri-Urdin had several opportunities on the counter to seal the win, with Óskarsson and Marchal the main threats, but could not find a third.

From there, it took pride, belief and character to hold on until the final whistle. It was all worth it.

Three hugely important points to put the two defeats at the start of the league campaign behind us. Now, the focus turns to Thursday, when RC Celta de Vigo visit Anoeta. Aupa Real!

Match details:

Real Sociedad: A. Remiro, Aramburu, Zubeldia, Jon Martín, Sergio Gómez, Turrientes (Herrera, 63’), C. Soler, Sučić (Take, 78’), Barrene (Marchal, 63’), Oyarzabal (capt.) (Gorrotxa, 90’) and Óskarsson (Guedes, 78’).

RCD Espanyol: Dmitrović, El Hilali, Vanja, Núñez, Hinojo, Urko (G. Moscardó, 46’), Edu Expósito (capt.) (Bauzà, 70’), Cala, Dolan (Jofre, 83’), Javi H. (Marcos, 70’) and Roberto (Pere Milla, 83’).

Goals: 1-0: Barrene, 4’; 1-1: Roberto, 45’; 2-1: Óskarsson, 61’.

Referee: Manuel Jesús Orellana. Booked Turrientes and Zubeldia for Real Sociedad and Urko, Marcos, Hinojo and Bauzà for RCD Espanyol. Sent off Txuri-Urdin head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo with a straight red card in the 90+4th minute.

Attendance: 31,884.