Such was San Martín’s recent revival that Superliga survival had started to look realistic and so the visit of Newell’s Old Boys under the temporary guidance of coach Héctor Bidoglio was eyed as another great opportunity for three points. La Lepra however had other ideas and centre forward Francisco Fydriszewski scored twice as the visitors claimed an invaluable 3-0 win.
Emiliano Purita thought he had given San Martín the lead only for an offside flag to deny the midfielder and when Luciano Pons also went close the home supporters would have been excused for feeling that a goal would eventually come. Newell’s had posed their own threat and the game swung in their favour when Rodrigo Moreira was shown a second yellow card after 36 minutes.
With the man advantage it was Newell’s who eventually struck first, Fydriszewski sticking out a long leg to poke the ball over the line when a corner had been headed back across goal. La Lepra should undoubtedly have extended their lead earlier but four minutes from time, Fydriszewski bent a superb finish over the stranded Jorge Carranza from 30 yards before substitute Alexis Rodríguez wrapped up the points.
San Martín slip immediately back into danger while Newell’s finish the year on a high and with back-to-back wins perhaps Bidoglio could land the job full time.
San Martín de Tucumán 0 – 3 Newell’s Old Boys
On Saturday, Unión’s torrid end to the year came to a fitting conclusion as Banfield became the latest side to go to Santa Fe and leave with three points.
Marcelo Torres scoring the only goal 20 minutes from time sealed it and now a new era for Banfield begins. Julio César Falcioni took charge of his final game last week and has stepped down due to ill-health and with reports that Hernán Crespo could be next it will be an interesting time at the Estadio Florencio Sola.
Unión 0 – 1 Banfield
San Lorenzo changed managers themselves in recent weeks but Jorge Almirón will need to wait until 2019 to secure his first win as manager. The Primera winning coach will have few better chances than on Saturday as his side scored one penalty, missed another before Estudiantes snatched a point from the spot.
Neither side will be particularly pleased with their performance but when Ruben Botta converted a penalty immediately after half time it looked like it could be enough.
And it should have a been. A second spot kick awarded for a trip on Nicolás Reneiro handed substitute Pablo Mouche a chance but his firm effort was saved by Mariano Andújar.
This miss looked to go unpunished as even the chances that Estudiantes did fashion were wasted until a foul on Mariano Pavone allowed the veteran striker to smash in a late equaliser.
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