Match recap: Santos Laguna 2, Necaxa 5

A rough night for Santos as Necaxa took a lead before turning it on in the second half, resulting in a 5-2 win for Los Rayos and Eduardo Fentanes. The loss marks the second week in a row Los Guerreros lost to a former head coach, with Guillermo Almada beating them 3-2 in Pachuca on Monday.

The match was fairly even at the start, with neither team really establishing much in the way of offense. There was a scary moment in the 6th minute when Ismael Govea collided with Jorge Rodríguez, with the latter tweaking his knee. Rodríguez was however able to get up under his own power and continue in the match. Duván Vergara won a corner kick in the ninth minute on a decent shot that Raúl Gudiño pushed wide. On the ensuing corner kick, Emerson Rodríguez had a decent attempt at a header but it too went wide. Emerson Rodríguez had another look at goal in the 13th minute, but his shot didn’t hook enough and it went wide of the net once more.

A minute later, a defensive error from Jhon Chancellor allowed Santos to get another opportunity deep, but the defense was able to recover and Rodríguez pushed another shot wide of the net. Both teams looked a little sloppy, with poor giveaways cutting short any plans of advancement either side may have had. In the 21st, Chancellor went up for a ball and landed awkwardly. He was taken from the field via golf cart, his evening finished. In the 26th Emerson Rodríguez hit a nice cross in to Harold Preciado, but his shot missed the mark. The tide turned in the 31st minute when Brayan Garnica sent a long ball across the goal over to Heriberto Jurado, who jumped up and got a perfect touch on the ball back to Alejandro Andrade. Andrade wasn’t marked and subsequently headed home the game’s first goal.

Santos had a good chance almost immediately after the goal when Juan Brunetta hit a thunderous free kick, but Gudiño did well to punch the ball out of danger. In the 38th minute there was a scramble in the box where Andrade and Matheus Dória collided in the box. Referee Oscar Mejía García reviewed the play at the VAR booth, where it looked like Andrade kicked Dória’s leg while they went for the ball. After several minutes at the booth, Mejía García ruled that no foul had occurred and play was allowed to continue.

In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Brunetta hit a wonderful cross in to Harold Preciado, but Preciado couldn’t get a clean touch on it and the chance didn’t materialize into anything of substance. After seven more minutes of stoppage time, the half was finally finished with Necaxa taking the lead to the locker.

It wasn’t long into the second half before Necaxa doubled their lead. a long ball over the top found Facundo Batista. Batista headed it over to Ricardo Monreal, and he headed it in past Lajud to quiet the crowd at TSM.

To add insult to injury, in the 52nd minute Andrade drove through the gut of the defense and hit a shot inside the near post, putting the game out of reach for the home side.

Necaxa was feeling it, and began taking shot from anywhere. Monreal however suffered an injury in the 56th minute and was carted off of the field. Santos didn’t give up, and made several forays down the field and into good position to score, but were carved wide open in the 63rd on a wonderful counterattack that culminated with a Fernando Arce goal.

As fans were shown streaming out of the stands, Santos conceded a free kick and Alexis Peña headed it in to make it 5-0 for Necaxa.

Santos pulled one back a couple of minutes later when Harold Preciado got a ball and hit a shot through the legs of backup goalkeeper Luis Unsain.

Santos kept looking to pull one back and had a good opportunity in the 71st when they had a couple of good looks at goal but couldn’t get anything to go. Harold Preciado had a good look in the 75th minute after a nice move, but it was not to be. Beto Ocejo had a look in the 78th minute but it took a deflection out. On the ensuing corner kick, the ball hit Alexis Peña in the torso. The Santos players shouted it was in the arm, Peña pointed to his chest, and a penalty was awarded and confirmed by a VAR review. Harold Preciado stepped up and buried it to bring Santos back to within three.

Beto Ocejo had a great chance in the 87th to get another one back when Preciado put a pass onto his foot in the box, but his shot was directly at Unsain and the ball deflected away harmlessly. After six minutes of stoppage time, the whistle blew and the remaining fans expressed their displeasure at the performance.

Santos will head east to face Rayados on Saturday, September 30th while Necaxa heads to Pachuca to take on Tuzos, also on Saturday, September 30th.

Santos Laguna: Gibran Lajud; Ismael Govea (Raúl López, 53’), Félix Torres, Matheus Dória, Omar Campos (Roni Prieto, 78’); Pedro Aquino (Santiago Muñoz, 53’), Alan Cervantes; Emerson Rodríguez (Diego Medina, 46’), Juan Brunetta, Duván Vergara (Beto Ocejo, 78’); Harold Preciado

Necaxa: Raúl Gudiño (Luis Unsain, 45’); Jair Cortés, Alexis Peña, Jhon Chancellor (Alán Montes, 25’), Jorge Rodríguez; Brayan Garnica, Fernando Arce, Alejandro Andrade, Heriberto Jurado (Rogelio Cortéz, 72’); Edgar Méndez (Ricardo Monreal, 45’), Facundo Bautista (Daniel Mantilla, 72’)

Scoring: Santos Laguna - Harold Preciado (68’, 82’ - penalty); Necaxa - Alejandro Andrade (31’, 52’), Ricardo Monreal (49’), Fernando Arce (63’), Alexis Peña (66’)

Disciplinary: Santos Laguna - None; Necaxa - None