Ketsbaia was laying it on thick in the press. Ok, so it was mind games but I must admit, it was starting to rub off. They hadn't conceded in thier cup run so far and they were playing on our low confidence by making us feel like we were up against it.
Thursday we made sure the team trained hard. Most of the better players knew they were going to be rested tonight but we weren't going to name the squad until the end of this session.
Roig had kept a low profile since the press conference, I'm not sure he had thought through what he was going to do if we lost.
We gathered them all together and revealed the line up - most of the first team were going to be rested but kept on the bench in case things were going wrong. But it was a good chance to keep some of the patient squad players a piece of the action. It was torrential rain again out there and you could see some of the star players didn't fancy it.
"ok guys, Mora - goalkeeper, defence - Javi Costa right back, Insua left back, Godin and Fuentes in the centre...Bruno and Senna in the middle, Cani left, Assulin right, Pjanic, you play behind Franco...tonight we play 4-2-3-1"
By the evening those selected were kitted up and fired up. I just hope that resting some of the first team didn't backfire. The rain was lashing at the windows, another rainy match day.
We walked out onto the pitch, a few empty seats around the place, could be the weather. Just hope we don't let them down.
Englishman Jon Mills will have felt some of the recent pressure lift off his shoulders after this assured performance. Question marks remain about the club's finishing - but they showed enough positve attitude tonight to suggest that La Liga will start to see the best of them soon.
The visitors, having made the long 1860 mile trip to Spain kept up a steady noise but early signs suggested they were in for a long evening. Franco, making his first appearence of the season should have opened the scoring on 8 minutes but headed over from 6 yards. The home side only had to wait another 5 minutes however. Javi Costa found himself in space on the right and played a fine ball low into the box. Franco got a toe onto it but it was gathered by the keeper..but in the pouring rain he spilled it back out into the path of 16 year old Gai Assulin, on loan from Catalan giants Barcelona...he made no mistake.
The next 20 minutes saw the Submarines take a grip on the game, Pjanic, the young Bosnian playmaker began to dictate the tempo and both he and Franco went close. 2 minutes before the interval and the lead was deservedly doubled. Defender Fuentes strode through the midfield before playing a delightful ball through to Franco. The striker took it onto his favoured foot before drilling past the depairing keeper.
After the break the home side appeared to have taken thier foot off the pedal and were punished by a rare Anorthosi attack. Committing too many bodies forward, Villareal were caught napping at the back. Iakovou raced clear, new signing Mora stayed on his line for reasons unknown and left the striker with an easier task of steering it into the bottom corner.
It was the wake up call the home side needed. Assulin stood over a free kick on the right a minute later and played a perfect ball onto the head of Senna. The international directed it perfectly between the keeper and defender on the line.
Gradualy Villareal re-asserted themselves and a spate of wasted chances prevented the margin getting bigger. It wasn't until the 66th minute that the 4th and final goal came. Assulin stood over a freekick on the edge of the box, he drilled it low causing it to clip off the heel of the unlucky Solomon, wrong footing the keeper.
3 substitutions followed, keenly awaited Henri Saivet making his debut for the club but none of the changes made any kind of impact as the game fizzled out in the pouring rain. The crowd seemed contented enough but it is the league games that thier opinions will be focussed on next.
Man of the Match - 16 yr old Gai AssulinThey were right, the relief was actually felt...I felt lighter and sent each player back out in the rain to applaud the fans who had made the effort to turn up.
I passed Roig who was talking business as usual, he turned to me and said "Four? should have been Seven" before turning away again.
"don't worry about it" said Ruben..."he's pleased, I can tell"
As I looked back over my shoulder I could see Roig watching us with a big smile.
All I had to do now was get them in the right frame of mind for Racing Santander away at the weekend. All this will have been for nothing if we don't get something out of that one.
