National defender Aubrey David played the first 45 minutes as his Deportivo Saprissa whipped Santos de Guapiles 4-2 to remain four points clear at the top of the Costa Rican Premier Division Football League on Saturday night.
Playing their second match in four days since the Costa Rica league become the first in the Americas to start playing again following the break in play, barring the Nicaraguan league, which never stopped, Saprissa went ahead in the eighth minute through Alvin Bennett.
The 29-year-old David was then cautioned in the 37th minute, the first of the match which was followed by similar yellow cards for opposing duo, Jose Garro (38th) and Osvaldo Rodriguez (41st).
Saprissa then doubled the lead in the 43d minute via Mariano Nestor Torres while Aaron Cruz picked up a second yellow card for the league leaders on the stroke of half-time while Javon East then netted for Santos to go in 2-1 down at the break.
On the resumption, David who played the full 90 minutes in Wednesday’s 1-0 win over defending champions and current third-placed Herediano was replaced by Alexander Robinson in central defence.
Santos then tied up the match in the 58th minute through Starling Matarrita to set up an interesting final 30 minutes.
With both teams headed for a share of the points Saprissa finally regained the lead in the 84th minute thanks to Christian Bolanos, and a minute from the final whistle, Johan Venegas added the insurance item to seal all three points, but not before Garros was shown a second yellow card for Santos on the stroke of full-time at the Estadio Ebal Rodriguez.
With the win, Saprissa moved to 39 points from 17 matches, four clear of bitter rival Alajuelense who defeated San Carlos 3-0 also on Saturday.
Speaking after the win, David said his substitution was a tactical one and agreed upon before the match with his team having to save legs for the matches which will be coming fast as the league compensates for the time lost due to the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
He said, "My substitution was a strategic change, as they (technical staff) already told me before the game I was going to play 45 minutes to manage playing time and my legs based on the feedback they got on the gps technology.
“The coach says it’s better to manage it now because the Clasico is coming against our biggest rivals (Alajuelense)."
With respect to the match, the Guyana-born David said, “The game was difficult but we came away with the three points.
“We controlled the game in the first half but second-half we lost the control, which enabled the team to come-back and equalise but we continued fighting and got two vital goals coming to the end of the match, ended David who returns to action with his club on Wednesday versus Limon before facing Alajuelense on Sunday.