“The team competed well in the first half. The goal stemmed from a mistake that we’d been working on during the week. The team reacted well, we believed in ourselves and continue to do so, and we managed to go level. Then in the second half we were punished by the expulsion. I prefer not to talk about the penalty, but the team kept on insisting. We must change the dynamic and move on,” he said.

Fran believes that “luck hasn’t been on our side, the team competes well throughout the week and is at 100 per cent. We must change the results, we have three points and need to react as the Second Division is very difficult.”

The focus is now on winning the next home game: “I understand the fans’ frustration. I ask them to help us during the 90 minutes and if you later have to recriminate us for something, do so. But I ask the fans to support us for those 90 minutes as we’re stronger with them behind us,” concluded the Malaguista number ‘21’.