Elche 1-2 Real Sociedad

A last minute winner from comeback kid Gorka Elustundo ended Real Sociedad's season on a high and gave Coach Lillo a good end to his tenure after the bitter disappointment of failing to get promotion. Incredibly the win means that txuri urdin finished with more points away from home than at the Anoeta - something that will need to change next season for sure. Both sides struggled to find any fluency to their game in the first half as the stifling heat took its toll. Elche took the lead on 41 minutes through Santos and it was a weary looking Real side that trudged off the pitch.

The second half was only 2 minutes old when a lively Agirretxe scored at the second attempt to cap an impressive season from him. In the final half an hour the game opened up and both teams had chances to score the winner but it was if the script had been written for Elustundo to score the winner after enduring a nightmare season through injury. On 89 minutes he scored and looked delighted with it. All the players rushed to congradulate him and rightly so as he not only completed a full 90 minutes he looked very assured throughout the 90 minutes and will be a huge player for Real next season if he can stay fit.

Elche: Willy Caballero, Oscar Rubio, Zubiaurre, Olmo, Amaya, Acciari, Usero Santos (Fernando Niño, 90 mins), Dani Benítez, Miguel (Saul, 79 mins), Rubén Pérez (Wakasa, 60 mins)

Real Sociedad: Ramirez, Gerardo, Carlos Martínez, Mikel González (Ansotegi, 80 mins), Castillo, Ros, Elustondo, Moha (Alain Eizmendi, 68 mins), Xabi Prieto, Marcos and Agirretxe (Viguera, 85 mins).

So another season is finished and ultimately its been a very poor one to say the least. Too many times (especially at home) the team looked, at best, average. Marcos and Prieto looked dangerous down the flanks but too often the final pass let them down. The injury to de Cerio certainly never helped matters and his replacement Necati wasn't the goal machine us fans expected him to be but he can't be faulted on his commitment to the cause, its just a shame he couldn't have scored more than one solitary goal and he would have been a fans favourite for sure. Boukary Dramé was a strange signing from Lillo for me cos i'm sure he must have seen him play before taking him on loan. I believe (and i could be wrong) he only started 1 game for the club all season which beggars belief in my eyes. I can only assume he was rubbish in training since i never actually seen him play!! I will be following the comings and goings with great interest during the summer as these will be key to our chances next season. With Abreu gone im particularly looking forward to seeing who Martín Lasarte brings in to get the goals next season. If readers of this site hear or see any tranfer rumours over the next couple of months please feel free to post them as i will no doubt miss some of them!!

I would like to end this post by revealing who i think has been player of the seson - Sebastián Abreu! With 11 goals in 18 games he gets my vote with his all action displays and key goals. His magnificent hat-trick against league leaders Xerez was outstanding and the highlight of the season for me. If anyone doesn't agree with this choice then again, please post a comment. Martín Lasarte was officially presented to the media and fans today and i personally have high hopes for him next season. I hope he can get us out this league at the 3rd time of asking and get us back with the big boys where we belong!