Patronato celebrated promotion to the top flight after a dramatic penalty shootout victory against Santamarina on Sunday night. Trailing 3-1 from the first leg, Los Rojinegros claimed a 2-0 win in Paraná to take the tie immediately to penalties and with a 6-5 win return to the Primera División for the first time since their involvement in the 1978 Campeonato Nacional.

The home side had comfortably finished in second during the regular Nacional B season, missing out on automatic promotion but some 16 points ahead of Santamarina. After losing the first leg and not reducing the deficit after the first 45 minutes of the return fixture, Patronato’s dream of promotion appeared to be slipping away.

Matías Garrido’s wonderful free-kick a little before the hour mark pulled Patronato within touching distance and when Marcos Minetti headed them level with 20 minutes still to play, Los Rojinegros looked the the more likely winner.

Unable to find a decisive third the tie went to penalties. With both sides flawlessly putting away all five regular spotkicks it went to sudden-death and after Diego Martínez scored Patronato’s sixth it fell to Santamarina’s Juan Gáspari to suffer the heartache. His effort was saved by Sebastián Bertoli and Patronato erupted in celebration.

Patronato  2 – 0  Santamarina (AGG  3-3)
Patronato won 6-5 on penalties