Two stoppage-time goals give Torreense 3-2 win over Ararat-Armenia
Ten-man Torreense trailed with three minutes of normal time left, then scored twice in stoppage time to beat Ararat-Armenia in the Europa League.
By Harvey Watkins,
Torreense beat Ararat-Armenia 3-2 at the Estádio Manuel Marques on Thursday night in the fourth round of Europa League fixtures, scoring twice in stoppage time to turn a defeat into a win. Javi Vázquez equalised in the 93rd minute and Musa Drammeh scored the winner two minutes later.
The late goals were dramatic enough on their own. The result stands out more for the evening around them. Torreense played more than half the match a man down after the scorer of their opening goal was sent off, and they were behind for most of the second half.
An early goal, then an early dismissal
Jorge Aguirre put Torreense ahead in the 13th minute. Twelve minutes later he was gone. His dismissal was a straight red rather than a second booking, and it left Torreense with ten men from the 25th minute onwards.
They held the lead for another 16 minutes. Karen Muradyan equalised for Ararat-Armenia in the 41st minute, and the sides went in level at the break.
Ararat-Armenia move in front
Bruno Wilson gave Ararat-Armenia a 2-1 lead in the 58th minute. At that point they were ahead on the scoreline and had an extra player, and they stayed in that position for 18 minutes.
That changed in the 76th minute, when João Bravim was sent off for Ararat-Armenia. His was also a straight red. It left both sides with ten men for the rest of the match, ending a spell of 51 minutes in which Torreense had been outnumbered.
Two goals in two minutes
Even with the numbers level, Ararat-Armenia's lead survived the rest of normal time. It went in the 93rd minute, when Vázquez made it 2-2. Two minutes later Drammeh scored again, and Torreense had taken the lead for the first time since Aguirre's opener 82 minutes earlier.
The winning margin came very late and was always slight. Ararat-Armenia were within touching distance of a win until the closing moments of stoppage time.
What the result shows
It is tempting to see Bravim's dismissal as the turning point. That is a reasonable reading, but it should be held loosely. Torreense did not score for 17 minutes after it, and the evidence of a single match does not show how much the extra space mattered.
What can be said with more confidence is that Torreense were never out of the game. They lost a goalscorer and a player inside the first half hour, fell behind against eleven men, and still found two goals at the very end.
For Ararat-Armenia, the scoreline says they had this match won for long stretches. They led with a numerical advantage, and they protected a one-goal lead into stoppage time. Losing from there, by conceding twice in quick succession, is the kind of result that can colour how a side is assessed. One match is a small sample, though, and the margins were fine throughout.