To calm the waters three points at home seemed like pure gold, however, Martín Barragán had other plans and 10 minutes before the end he scored the goal with which Necaxa drew 1-1 against Atlas, which left the Jalisco Stadium booed and criticized by their fans due to poor results this season.
Rafael Márquez returned after an injury and did so to lead the central defense, as Rubén Omar Romano said upon his arrival. The Atlas captain was paired with Leiton Jiménez, while Stiven Barreiro was deployed as the right-back, a position in which he has already scored a couple of goals this season.
The defensive unit, one of the main problems, suffered drastic changes. Daniel Arreola was the left-back and Luis Reyes was deployed as a midfielder on that side, a position he had already played before making his debut in the First Division.
It was, however, the visiting team that came close to opening the scoring after Roberto Alvarado escaped, made a cut inside the box and served Carlos González, who was alone at the penalty spot but sent his shot wide of Cristopher Toselli's goal.
The score was opened in the second half. It had to be Milton Caraglio, the forward who carried the team on his back after the departure of Matías Alustiza and when "Chavo" was relegated to the substitutes' bench.
Clifford ventured into the rival's area, served Caraglio, who shot with his left foot at Marcelo Barovero's post. The fanatical crowd exploded and the just over 19 thousand attendees had a reason to celebrate after almost an hour of poor football.
But the joy didn't last long for the Zorros. Luis Reyes had another chance to extend the lead but failed to score when inside the box. It was then that Martín Barragán, who had only been on the field for a few minutes, shot to beat Toselli and break a drought that had lasted since November 18 in the league. He fulfilled the law of the ex to equalize things at the 79th minute.
Romano tried to fix the situation by bringing in Ravel Morrison, who had already played minutes in the sub-20 category on Tuesday morning, but the Englishman could contribute little with his football and only received a yellow card.
At the end, the fans made themselves heard once again, asking for more effort with their traditional chants and a loud boo for Erick Yair Miranda. Atlas had the three points in the bag again, as happened against Lobos, and a homegrown player, still owned by the club, snatched them away at the end. Four points, five defeats, one draw, and one victory is the balance for the tapatios in the Clausura 2018.
MC