All Boys players attempt to placate the crowd as their fans threaten to break through onto the pitch

The relegation battle turned up a notch further yesterday and heaped even more pressure on Independiente ahead of their huge clash with River Plate later today. San Martin de San Juan made it 3 wins on the bounce with a 2-0 win in Cordoba over Belgrano courtesy of two second half goals from Sebastian Penco. Having looked doomed some weeks ago, if Argentinos Juniors lose to San Lorenzo on Monday they would be out of the bottom 3. Quilmes then travelled to Sarandi to face Arsenal and came from a goal down to win 2-1. Goals from Martin Cauteruccio and Damian Leyes cancelled out Jorge Ortiz’s early opener for the home side and although Quilmes are still not 100% safe, they now cannot be caught by Independiente. In Mendoza, Godoy Cruz were surprisingly beaten by Tigre. Having not won in 5 the chances of Tigre upsetting a normally strong Godoy Cruz side looked slim but they were good value for their win, despite Sebastian Rusculleda’s 71st minute goal being the only difference. Sadly in Saturday’s late kickoff the ugly side of Argentinian football reared it’s head. Velez Sarsfield’s match with All Boys was suspended after just 26 minutes due to the visiting All Boys supporters breaking through the fencing and clashing with police. The match was held up for 17 minutes and tear gas was used to try and disperse the crowd but eventually the referee decided to call it off. Remarkably, 17 games have been disrupted this season in the Primera División: four games have been stopped for fireworks, ten for incidents and three have been abandoned. Until the AFA take proper preventative action we will continue to see these despicable scenes. REPORT AND GOALS HERE….

BELGRANO  0 – 2  SAN MARTIN

Belgrano, perhaps as they have already qualified for the Copa Sudamericana lost for the first time in 5 games as San Martin recorded a third straight win and a chance to jump out of the bottom 3. Belgrano should have led after having a goal wrongly ruled out for offside in the first half but in the second half they were hit by two Sebestian Penco close range finishes following swift counter attacks. All eyes will now be on Argentinos Juniors game on Monday evening, if they lose San Martin will be out of the relegation zone.

ARSENAL  1 – 2  QUILMES

The bad results for Independiente just keep on coming and with this win Quilmes can now not be caught by the Avellaneda giants. They themselves are not completely safe but with 2 games to play it would be a shock if they were dragged in. Arsenal took the lead through a fine volley from the edge of the box by Jorge Ortiz but were pegged back just after half an hour when Uruguayan striker, Martin Cauteruccio chased down a long ball, out-muscled his marker and fired the ball under the goalkeeper. Defender, Damian Leyes made sure of all 3 points when he found himself free following a corner and he was able to find the corner of the net. Arsenal then lost it and had Nicolas Aguirre and Dario Benedetto sent off.

GODOY CRUZ  0 – 1  TIGRE

Tigre were good value for their win in Mendoza and the winning goal was a genuine moment of quality. The through ball from Ramiro Leone and the timing of the run and finish from Sebastian Rusculleda were superb. A rare off day for Martin Palermo’s side who are now out of the championship equation but a good season provides a nice platform to build on.

VELEZ SARSFIELD  suspended  ALL BOYS

Another bad day for Argentinian football as scenes of crowd trouble inside the stadiums once again disrupt the day’s football. After just 26 minutes the All Boys supporters began to clash with the police and as a fence was broken and they threatened to invade the pitch the game was halted. The reason behind this it has since emerged is that a large number of All Boys supporters had tried to enter the stadium without tickets and as the police attempted to prevent this a child was allegedly hit. As tension rose, a policeman was hit in the bathroom of the away end and this aggression then spilled into the stands. Clashes with the police and then part of the fence being broken meant that referee, Pablo Diaz had to stop the game. The confrontation continued and tear gas was used by the police and despite some efforts, seemingly to fix the fence, the game was eventually called off. All Boys fans and players have been quick to condemn the police but they must take some of the responsibility and now after yet another chapter in Argentina’s problem with football violence all eyes will look to the AFA to see what they will do.