Alex Bermejo fired home a dramatic stoppage-time winner to keep CD Tenerife’s promotion hopes alive after beating UD Almería 2-1 at Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos. 

Darwin Múñez handed the hosts an early lead after a quick break forward before Luis Milla drew Tenerife level from the penalty spot towards the end of the first-half. 

Almería were reduced to 10-men when Iván Balliu was sent off for a foul on Milla and the visitors took full advantage when Bermejo struck home the winning goal in the 92nd-minute. 

Tenerife climb up to seventh in the LaLiga SmartBank table, two points outside of the Play-Offs with four games remaining, while Almería remain in fourth. 

Almería capitalise on mistake and take early lead

Heading into the game, Almería were just three points off league-leaders Cádiz CF, while Tenerife were only five points away from the top six themselves after a draw at home to Déportivo la Coruńa on Tuesday. 

It was the home side, who took an early lead in the game after capitalising on a mistake. Aitor Sanz’s pass was intercepted by José Carlos Lazo near halfway. 

Almerí broke forward with pace and Lazo threaded a terrific through ball to Núñez, who raced through on goal before lashing home past the goalkeeper inside seven minutes. 

Two chances in quick succession came Tenerife’s way, the first of which was on 16 minutes when Dani Lasure collected Sanz’s pass and fired across goal and wide of the far post. 

Just two minutes later, Milla brought down Alex Muñoz’s long ball over the top, but Fernando was quick off his line to deny the playmaker a shot on goal. 

Núñez created an opening for Lazo, who blazed high over the bar, before Tenerife were awarded a penalty after Sanz’s shot struck the arm of Birmingham City loanee Fran Villalba inside the box. 

Milla, as he did against RC Déportivo during the week, stepped up and dispatched the penalty, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way. 

Just as the first-half was entering additional time, the home side went close as José Corpas’s cross to the back post found Villalba, who struck down into the pitch and into the arms of Adrián Ortolá. 

Dramatic finish to the game sees Tenerife snatch three points

Tenerife started brightly after the restart, both Alberto Jiménez and Dani Gómez went close before the latter had an effort kept out by the Almería goalkeeper. 

The home side started to turn up the pressure after the hour mark and began to commit more men forward as they knew a win would lift them up into the automatic promotion places. 

Milla and Núñez exchanged chances around the 67-minute mark, while the visitors went extremely close to going ahead when Muñoz weaved past Valentín Vada and pulled the trigger from 25-yards out, flashing his shot across goal and just wide. 

Both sides knew another goal was crucial for their promotion hopes and the game took an unexpected twist when a tackle on Milla was reviewed by the referee. 

The original decision of a yellow card was overturned by the match official and Balliu was shown a red card for a poor challenge on Milla in the Tenerife half. 

With the man advantage, it took Rubén Baraja’s side just two minutes to capitalise. Shaq Moore’s cross was glanced on by Javi Muñoz and substitute Bermejo, who had been on the pitch just seven minutes, rifled into the net from inside the area. 

Tenerife negotiated the final four minutes of stoppage time to give their hopes of promotion a boost with four games to go. They will face Real Zaragoza on Thursday evening, while Almería are away at Girona FC.