Spain
Segunda Division
Sunday 12th November 2023
Kick Off 21.00 Actual 21.01
Sociedad Deportiva Eibar1 Albacete Balompie 1, attendance 4,543
10’ 1-0
67’ 1-1
@ Estadio Municipal de Ipurua
Ipurua Kalea 2
20600 Eibar
€25 Admission + €2 Booking Fee, Print at Home Ticket
No Programme.
Having had lunch in Tarazona, it was a two and a half hour drive north west, via Pamplona, to Eibar for the second game of the day. It would have been possible to squeeze a game in between the two matches, but would have left little time for eating or checking in at our hotel. In hindsight, it was the correct call to do just two games. Even arriving in Eibar well before kick off, finding any sort of parking was horrendous. It was on the third loop round the one way system that I managed to grab a place in the street. From here it was uphill all the way to the ground. Luckily, there is a system of escalators to do the work. The steep rise from town to stadium would certainly give you a good workout…..would have took it in my stride a few years ago…but, sadly, not these days!
The ground just suddenly appears in front of you, hidden from sight until you’re literally on top of it. Even the four corner floodlights don’t offer any help in locating it. Booking tickets online was not a problem. The bottom row on all four sides was more or less 100% available, with only the odd few seats elsewhere. We managed to get a couple of the furthest seats back from the pitch and even then it was only on the third row. It was a little baffling that the ground holds 8,164 all seated, but was only just over half full. There must be a lot of season ticket holders that don’t bother turning up for games? The ground is very compact and not really that great as far as getting a proper view of the action goes. The near touchline was totally obscured and looking down towards the far near corner was not helped by everyone leaning forward or standing up whenever the ball went that way as they strained for a better view. The ground was opened in 1947 and has gradually been re-developed over the years, with renovation carried out in 1989 and again in 2016, before finally reaching it’s current layout in 2019.
As for the match, it was 4th versus 17th in the league table. Eibar took an early lead, when a break down the right was played into the box first time and finished at the near post. They were well on top, but lacked any real cutting edge up front. They had the chance to double their lead a couple of minutes before halftime, but they saw a penalty saved by the visiting ‘keeper, diving towards the corner, but saving with his trailing leg. Albacete were much better in the second half and it came as no surprise when they equalised with just over twenty minutes left, finishing with a 25 yard angled shot into the far top corner, which the ‘keeper got a hand to, but couldn’t keep out. At least the 75-80 away fans will have felt the effort of making the 400 mile journey north was worth it, despite the game not finishing until 22.57!
Tonight’s match brought up the half century of grounds I’ve now seen a game at in Spain.
