Week 3 - Benidormida 1 Valencia 1

Gibney only made one change to the side that beat Real Betis, Valeny comes in to replace Zebina, and it was Valeny who created the first chance, firing in a great cross from the right, Vederson was free in the area, but he could only head the ball wide a terrific chance to gain the lead was wasted by the talented Turk.

And Benidormida were made to rue that miss as Valencia took the lead after 25 minutes, Grimi had gone on the attack and left a huge space in the defence, Miguel Angulo exploited the space and chipped a lovely ball into David Silva, he took the ball on the volley and smashed it past Dida, the home fans silenced.

Ben Sahar had a great chance to level the game before half time, he took on the Valencia defence on his own, beat two men, his shot was deflected wide past the post.

Benidormida the better side over the 45 minutes but it's the scoreline that counts.

The home team came out all guns blazing, and got the equaliser after 5 minutes, Clark played the ball out to Reyes, he laid it off to Grimi, Reyes made the run inside, Grimi found him with a lovely chip, Reyes turned while chesting the ball down and finished in exquisite fashion a wonderful goal worthy of all 3 points.

One point was all either team could manage though, Benidormida had a chance to win the game at the end, Charlie Davies heading wide while unmarked, he couldn't turn Reyes cross on target.

Valencia will be alot happier with the point, Gibney will hope the 2 points lost are now crucial.

BENIDORMIDA 1
Reyes 50
VALENCIA 1
Silva 25

M.O.M - Jose Antonio Reyes - Benidormida

Cope del Rey - 1st Round, 1st Leg

CLUB BRUGGE 3 BENIDORMIDA 4

First cup game for the Division 2 Cup Winners, an away trip to Brugge, these teams haven't met since Brugge got promoted 2 seasons ago.

5 changes from the side that beat Betis, Tonel, Jose, Ntibazonkiz and Remy all come into the team.

3 minutes gone and Charlie Davies opens the scoring, Leao turns and gets past his man at the edge of the box, he then plays a lovely pass into Davies and he finished neatly into the corner.
It only took Brugge 2 minutes to answer back, a counter-attack down the right the cross is whipped in and Sonck beats Dida to make to 1-1, and Sonck repeated the move 30 mins later, Grimi went missing from left back, and a low ball was played in for Sonck to apply the easy finish.

The second half didn't get much better for Benidormida, the ball was played over the top for Sonck, his shot was parried by Dida and Akpala was the first man to react making it 3-1 to Brugge.

This seemed to wake the Spaniards up, Manuel Jose's cross was met by Davies and his header was well saved down low, away for a corner, Ntibazonkiza ran over to take it, beautifully swung in and Leao rose highest and powered the ball past Stijnen, 2nd away goal for Gibney's men.

Benidormida went on the attack again, Leao played a 1-2 with Davies, the defence got a foot in, the ball fell to Manuel Jose and he fired it past Stijnen, 6 goals, 3 each, and still 10 minutes to go.

4 minutes later Benidormida got a free kick, Zebina played the long ball, it fell to Leao, he finds Jose plays it to Remy, he took a touch, and played a lovely reverse ball, which found Manuel Jose all on his own to slot it past the Brugge keeper for the 4-3 lead.

Club Brugge had no way back into this and the referee blew his whistle, 7 goal thriller, 4 away goals for Benidormida, Manuel Jose didn't score all last season, 2 brilliant goals in this game.

The tie is far from over, only one goal behind, Brugge could answer back in Benidorm.

M.O.M - Manuel Jose - Benidormida

Week 2 - Benidormida 3 Real Betis 1

Benidormida's first home game came against Real Betis, and the home fans couldn't have asked for a better result.

Ben Sahar opened the scoring on the 49th minute when Charlie Davies ran down the wing, crossed in and Sahar met it with a diving header.
And he made it two 15 minutes later, Davies cross was blocked Sahar picked it up and from the edge of the box smashed the ball into the top corner.
Real Betis Challenge was over with 5 minutes to go a goal worthy all 3 points, Davies played the ball to Reyes he returned the ball to Davies with a chip over the top, Davies took it on his chest and volleyed the ball into the Betis net, wonderful moment for the American with his first goal.

Real got a consolation goal on the 88th minute, a cross from the left, hits the post and fell straight to Odonkor and he couldn't miss.

3-1 a great result for Gibney's men, the home fans went home very happy.

M.O.M - Ben Sahar - Benidormida

Week 1 - Barcelona 4 Benidormida 2

Gibney and his men couldn't have asked for a more difficult start to their first season in La Liga, a trip to the Nou Camp to face the current Champions of Spain and Europe.

He gave debuts to Dida, Rajkovic, Zebina, Matabuena, Ricardo Clark and Charlie Davies, going for a 4-3-3 formation, more attacking style than last seasons 4-4-2.


Barcelona starting with the dangerous trio of Messi, Eto'o and Henry, and it was Eto'o that welcomed Benidormida to the league, capitalising on defensive mistakes and putting Barca 2-0 up in 5 minutes, and it only took 4 more minutes for him to complete his hat-trick, Eto'o played the ball to Iniesta, he tried his luck with a shot, Dida could only parry the ball to the on rushing Eto'o and he made no mistake for his and Barca's 3rd.

The Away team finally settle down midway through the half, starting to knock the ball about the way they had in the 2nd Division, and just before half time it cam good Ben Sahar released Reyes into the box and he curled the ball past Valdes in the Barca net, great way to end the half.


That goal must have made Gibney's half time team talk alot easier and it was the Costal side that start the 2nd half brighter, Ricardo Clark advance toward the Barca box, laid the ball off to Vederson he took a shot, Valdes could only parry it, and Sahar pounced to reduce the deficit to one, the pressure back on the home side.

10 minutes later all their hard work was ruined, Thierry Henry found some space on the left, fired a shot, and Dida and van Eijden between them couldn't clear the ball and it spun off, into the net, off Dida's back, calamitous defending.

Benidormida couldn't find a way back into the game, and the referee draw a close to the entertaining match, Barcelona winning 4-2, good come back from Benidormida, just not good enough, Gibney should take alot of positives away from the match.


M.O.M - Samuel Eto'o - Barcelona

Season 2 - Video Review

Squad Announced

With the transfer window closed, Benidormida have announced the 25 players registered for the upcoming season.

Goalkeepers

1. Edvaldo Alves de Santa Rosa "DIDA"
12. Arne Lothar
24. Roman Ivarov

Defenders

2. Leandro Grimi
3. Jonathan Zebina
4. Rens van Eijden
5. Slobodan Rajkovic
13. Magnus Stremer
16.Antonio Leonel Vilar Nogueira Sousa "TONEL"
20. Billy Ruskin
27. Jean Valeny
33. Mirko Jaric

Midfielders

7. Sergio Matabuena
8.Gokcek Vederson
15. Manuel Jose
17. Ricardo Clark
18. Saidi Ntibazonkiza
21. Jose Manuel Dodo
26. Sergio Espimas

Forwards

9. Charlie Davies
10. Ben Sahar
14. Loic Remy
19. Juan Antonio Reyes
23. Ivan Castolo

Double swoop!

As announced today by Spanish Newspaper MARCA, Gibney has again delved into the transfer market and made 2 signings that will bring added strengthen to the squad.

From English giants Chelsea, Slobodan Rajkovic and Sportings Portuguese centre back Tonel.

Rajkovic is a 20yr old centre back, who had never actually played for Chelsea but had spent 2 years in Holland on loan with PSV and Twente, he has recently been capped twice for Serbia and is a very hot prospect in the European game, this is quite a coo for Gibney and his staff.

Tonel on the other hand brings a lot of experience to the squad, playing over 90 games for Sporting, and should settle in well with the Spanish Club.

Both players have been signed for undisclosed fees, reportedly to be about €7 million for both players.