When they are about to face the final stretch, Real Avilés is going through their worst moment of the season. The change of coach has not worked and the blue and white team, which was ninth before the dismissal of Chiqui de Paz, now occupies the twelfth position, closer to the relegation places (three points) than to the play-offs for promotion to the First RFEF (four). Despite the losing streak, with a victory in the seven games of Jorge gonzalezAstu, on the bench, no news is expected at the blue and white club and Astu will continue to combine his positions as sports director and coach of the first team.
The continuity of Astu does not seem to be in danger, despite the fact that the coach himself made clear the importance of the match against Coruxo, which ended with the Avilesian defeat by 2-3: “The remaining matches are finals for everyone, for the team and the coach.” The unexpected setback against the Galician team, which until a few days ago was moving through relegation positions, has complicated the Blue and Whites’ goal of finishing in the top five positions in the group.
Avilés has been in the play-off zone in nine of the 21 games played, eight of them with Chiqui de Paz as coach. The blue and white team entered the noble zone on matchday five, thanks to the victory against Unión Adarve, who came to Suárez Puerta as the undefeated leader. In the following seven days, De Paz’s Avilés moved between second and fourth position. In the eleventh a bad streak began, with four consecutive defeats that led to the dismissal of Chiqui de Paz, with the team two points from the play-off.
Optimism returned to Avilés coinciding with Astu’s debut, with victory in Butarque against Leganés B (0-1). It allowed him to climb to fifth place, although the following day he came out of the play-off again, drawing with Bergantiños (2-2), just before the Christmas break. Since then, the drop has been sustained, until reaching the worst classification so far this season, twelfth, only one above Arenteiro, who right now would have to play the permanence promotion.
Waiting for the reaction of a team that has been reinforced in the winter market, Astu comes out disadvantaged in the comparison with Chiqui de Paz. While De Paz added twenty points in his fourteen games on the bench, the current coach has scored seven in the seven he has coached so far.
On Sunday, visit the leader, Adarve
The attempt to start the comeback by Avilés will find itself on Sunday with the added inconvenience of visiting the undisputed leader of the group, Unión Adarve de Madrid. The Astu team has an appointment with the Adarve on Sunday, at 11 am, on the Vicente del Bosque field, with artificial turf. For this game, Astu will still be without goalkeeper Moha, due to suspension, and the injured Gerard Barri, Kilian Grant and Toni García. In principle, those who played against Coruxo on Sunday are available and today (La Toba, 11 a.m.) they will start preparing for the match against Unión Adarve, who are in first position, with a six-point advantage over the second, Pontevedra.
