Santa Fe are alone at the top of the Colombian Liga Postobon despite being held to a 2-2 draw at Real Cartagena, as fellow leaders Cucuta crashed to a 1-0 defeat at Deportes Tolima.
A little over a minute had been played in Cartagena when the home side took the lead through Luis Iriarte but Mario Gonzalez leveled the score from the penalty spot near the hour mark. When Oscar Rodas netted another with three minutes to go, it looked like Santa Fe were about to secure their fourth consecutive victory but Jose Najera saved the day for the home side in the 94th minute, 2-2.
Despite dropping two points, Santa Fe remain alone at the top as Cucuta fared even worse at Tolima, where Fernando Cardenas scored the only goal of the match in the 79th minute. The result was enough for Tolima to move into third place at two points from Santa Fe, just one point behind Cucuta.
Atletico Huila earned a 0-1 win at Envigado to jump to fourth place, with Jorge Vidal netting the winner on 58 minutes. The visitors did finish a man down as Carlos Carbonero conceded a second yellow card with four minutes left in regular time.
Boyaca Chico drop from third to fifth place after drawing 2-2 at Deportivo Pereira, who took the lead through Miguel Cuellar in the 12th minute. Anthony Tapia equalized in the 32nd however, and Juan Nuñez completed the turn-around on the hour. Pereira would have the last laugh though as Andres Arroyave found the target for 2-2 in the 75th minute.
In Sunday’s other games, Millonarios drew 1-1 with defending champions Junior while America de Cali beat Cortulua 1-2.
This week’s action began on Friday with La Equidad beating Once Caldas 4-2, allowing the Bogota side to climb to seventh place, level on points with Caldas who do have a slightly better goal record.
In Saturday’s games, Deportivo Cali and Independiente Medellin forgot to score and as such drew 0-0, while Atletico Nacional beat Deportes Quindio 1-0 to earn their first three points of the season.
Teams currently on course for a spot in the next round are Santa Fe, Cucuta, Tolima, Huila, Boyaca Chico, Once Caldas, La Equidad and Quindio.