Hemed at the double

Tomer Hemed scored at either end of the match to earn Mallorca a season-opening 2-1 win over Espanyol on Sunday night.

Tomer Hemed scored at either end of the match to earn Mallorca a season-opening 2-1 win over Espanyol on Sunday night. The Israel international was on the spot after two minutes and then pounced on a stray ball with five remaining to render Mubarak Wakaso's equaliser worthless. His winner came after Michael Pereira's drive had come back off the bar, with the 25-year-old rewarded for showing better reactions than the visiting defence. Such a lively ending added some symmetry to proceedings too, with the game having kicked off at a furious pace. As if to indicate how eager they had been for the season to start, both sides were quick out of the blocks with a frenetic opening 10 minutes compensating for the three-month break. Victor's header for Mallorca drew a near-post save out of Cristian Alvarez after just 23 seconds and the home side were ahead a minute later, with Hemed turning and finding the bottom corner from 12 yards after Emilio Nsue's cross. Victor then had another header dealt with by the goalkeeper, before Espanyol equalised when Wakaso pulled down Cristian Gomez's raking pass, cut inside and shot across Dudu Aouate into the bottom corner. Mallorca resumed control after that, with Victor's heading practice continuing as he again tested Alvarez, with the stopper having to be alert again with 22 minutes gone as Ximo Navarro drove in from 12 yards. After the early drama the pace slowed down somewhat, with Wakaso hitting the ball wide and Michael Pereira working Alvarez from distance in a relatively slow end to the half. The second period started slowly too with Pereira and Hemed both firing wide, and it was not until the 79th minute that one of the keepers had to make a save again, with Alvarez keeping out Fernandez Marc. It was Mallorca who were doing all the running and they got their just rewards with five minutes left on the clock, with Hemed drilling in at the near post after Pereira had been denied.