After the lengthy rain delay, a sloppy game was no surprise to anybody tuned into the events at the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero. Even less surprising, the quality of the pitch meant that goals would likely have to come from set pieces.
For the visitors, the opening chance came within ten minutes when Pedro Bigas brought Antonio Sanchez down in the box, forcing the referee to award the visitors an early penalty kick. However, Mallorca striker Vedat Muriqi stepped up and failed to convert a spot-kick attempt for the first time since 2016, thanks to a fine save from Edgar Badia.
In a wild turn of events, the visitors were made to rue their missed chance when only moments later Ezequiel Ponce rose above the Mallorca defence and headed home the opener from a corner, and gave Elche the lead at the break.
While Mallorca fought to reclaim parity in the second half, their luck would turn on the hour mark when Elche were forced to play with ten men, thanks to a dangerous tackle from Lucas Boye, who had only just joined the game from the substitutes bench.
With the momentum and a numerical advantage, Los Piratas piled the pressure on their opponents. Finally, they were rewarded for their efforts when Edgar Badia came off of his line and collided with Muriqi in an attempt to punch an aerial ball clear, and again, the referee awarded Mallorca a penalty.
To redeem his earlier miss, Muriqi stepped up and coolly slotted the ball home into the top corner, snatching a point for the visitors in dramatic fashion. Muriqi did, however, find himself sent off for violent conduct in the final ten minutes - although his brain-dead moment did not go on to punish the visitors.
Coming into the night without a win in La Liga, Elche will be bitterly disappointed to throw away a lead that they held onto for nearly an hour. To make matters worse, they find themselves still stuck at the bottom of the league table after finishing only five points off of the top half of the table last season.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Gerard Gumbau (Elche)
