Stars Abroad: Gonzalez no show for Las Palmas again

Yet another match, yet another no show for Harambee Stars midfielder Ismail Athuman Gonzalez who plies his trade with Spanish division 2 side Las Palmas. In the latest absence, the 26-year-old midfielder was not named completely in the match day squad as his Las Palmas outfit picked a crucial 2-0 victory over Ponferradina in the match played at Estadio de Gran Canaria yesterday night.

This 2020/2021 season, thirty seven matches in, Gonzalez has only played an accumulated total of 330 minutes since the season started, making a total of only five appearances for the side. In those five appearances, the lanky player was named in the starting eleven only three times and came on as a substitute twice.

Gonzalez has been named 22 times on the bench but he did not make any appearance in any of those games. The last time the Kenyan international made an appearance was way back on the 14th of February in a 3-1 away loss to Almeria.

Without Gonzalez yester night, Palmas got back to winning ways after four attempts courtesy of goals in either halves of the game. Maikel opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 18th minute after Rober was brought down inside the area, a lead that the home side would clutch onto until the half time interval.

Twenty five minutes into the second half, Rober, who was brought down in the first half, set up Sergio Araujo who expertly guided the ball past the outstretched Ponferradina goalkeeper from just outside the box to hand Palmas the three points.

With the win, Palmas pushed themselves up to 12th position on the log on 49 points while Ponferradina perched on 8th on 53 points. With only five games remaining, Palmas are now eleven points clear from the relegation places.