Antequera Beaten by Real Murcia as Diao Strikes at El Mauli A header from Usseyn Diao in first-half stoppage time gave Real Murcia a 0-1 win at El Mauli on matchday ten of the Primera Federacion, extending the visitors' reputation as the division's strongest away side. Antequera's home crowd left El Mauli empty-handed on Sunday evening after a single goal in first-half stoppage time gave Real Murcia a 0-1 win on the tenth matchday of Group 2 in the Primera Federacion, Spain's third tier. It was the kind of afternoon the home side had hoped to avoid against one of the division's strongest travellers, and it ended with the points travelling east along with several hundred visiting supporters. The decisive moment arrived with the last touch of the opening half. A corner swung in from the visiting side was met by the head of Usseyn Diao in the second minute of added time, and the striker celebrated his first goal since joining the Murcia club in the summer. Until then the game had been tight and short on clear chances, a contest played mostly through midfield and settled by a single set piece. The second half asked a different question of Antequera. Chasing the equaliser, the home side pushed forward, but the visitors defended their lead with discipline and neither goalkeeper was beaten again. The final whistle confirmed a result that felt significant in both directions: three points that keep Real Murcia among the contenders near the top of the group, and a home defeat that leaves Antequera still searching for the consistency that could lift them clear of trouble. For the visitors, the win continued what local media in Murcia describe as the club's best start in the Primera Federacion, with the side now established as the division's most successful away team this season. After years of instability, a club that has spent much of the last decade fluctuating between the third and fourth tiers has been rebuilt on defensive organisation, and its record on the road reflects it: Murcia have made a habit of winning ugly in other people's stadiums. Antequera's frustration is of a different kind. Under coach Abraham Paz, the project assembled in the summer was expected to compete at the right end of the table, and there have been promising performances away from home. El Mauli, though, has not yet become the fortress the club needs. Points dropped in front of the home fans are the most expensive ones in any promotion or survival campaign, and a team that struggles on its own ground ends up needing heroics elsewhere. The result also narrows Antequera's margin in the middle of the group. One matchday after their cup exit brought a premature end to the glamour side of the season, the league now decides everything, and the response over the coming weeks offers the clearest test of the squad. The squad's best performances, as local analysts have noted, have tended to come away from home, which makes the next home fixture a matter of pride beyond points. For neutral followers of Andalusian football, the fixture was a reminder of how deep the region's football culture runs beyond the first division. Antequera, with its dolmens and its historic centre, is one of the continent's great heritage towns, and its football club has become an emotional anchor for a municipality that has grown quickly in recent years. A 0-1 defeat does not change any of that, but Sunday's silence at the final whistle said something about how seriously the city takes its team. Real Murcia, meanwhile, continue to look upward. The visitors left El Mauli talking about playoff positions and the clubs above them, a vocabulary that their supporters have not been able to use so confidently in some time. For a side built to climb, wins like this one, a single goal, a clean sheet, a long trip home with three points are the currency in which promotion campaigns are paid. The Primera Federacion pauses now for the international window, giving both squads time to regroup before the autumn run of fixtures that traditionally shapes the table before Christmas. Antequera will use it to work on turning their away form into home results. Murcia, halfway through the autumn with their best away record in the division secured, will use it to keep doing exactly what has brought them this far.