Bottom-placed Elche travelled to Mallorca bidding to record just their second La Liga (LL) victory of the season. However, this would be difficult against a Javier Aguirre side that had won each of their last five home league games, including victories over Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Villarreal. The hosts unsurprisingly started the better of the two sides and should have taken the lead through veteran midfielder Dani Rodríguez who failed to convert a scuffed effort six yards out when Randy Nteka did brilliantly to clear the ball off the line.
The remainder of the first half was limited to long-range chances, in particular, efforts from Gerard Gumbau and Lee Kang-in forced both goalkeepers into good saves to ensure the scoreline stayed goalless heading in at HT. The visitors looked far more threatening at the start of the second half and came close to scoring only their 18th LL goal of the season when Lucas Boyé put his effort from a corner inches wide of the post. Mallorca grew into the half after starting slowly and almost took the lead themselves when Vedat Muriqi was denied a third goal in as many games by a superb Edgar Badia save.
After a conservative first half, the game progressed to a far more open affair with either side producing chances worthy of winning the game. Mallorca had Rajković to thank for keeping them in the game as he was called on several times throughout the second half, the best save coming on 80 minutes when he denied Ponce in a one-on-one. Rajković could do nothing about the winner when Boyé scored his second goal in three games with a sumptuous first-time strike that flew into the top corner of the net, moments before the full-time whistle. Muriqi thought he had scored a last-second equaliser when he found the back of the net in the 96th minute, however, it was ruled out by VAR to secure the 1-0 win for Elche.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Luca Boye (Elche)
