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RCD Espanyol move on in Copa del Rey with 0-1 win

Los Pericos best C.A. El Paso in the Canary Islands

Espanyol continued their progress in the Copa del Rey with a 1-0 win over C. A. El Paso, as Nico Melamed scored late to take the team through.

Up against opposition from the Segunda División RFEF, Diego Martínez' men approached the game seriously and were aware of the factors that made the fixture tricky: A different playing surface, a long away trip and a highly motivated home team all created difficulty for Los Pericos.

Nevertheless, they controlled the flow of the game in the first half, only lacking effectiveness in front of goal. C.A. El Paso relied on counters and put men behind the ball, making it difficult to hit them on the break.

The game went into halftime with the score at 0-0, despite chances for the likes of Joselu and Puado.

After the interval, Espanyol were more forceful in attack, and gradually found the space to create frequent chances. Melamed and Puado both came close, the latter with a shot that forced home goalkeeper Luis Arellano into a solid save.

El Paso had a penalty appeal for handball waved away, and continued to pose sporadic problems going forward.

Finally, as the match went into the 80th minute, a cross from the left by Oliván was lightly deflected by Joselu, with Melamed stabbing home from inside the box to put RCD Espanyol ahead.

The score remained 0-1 at the final whistle, and RCD Espanyol enter into Friday's draw for the next round of the Copa del Rey.