Náxara Rise from the Depths: Visitors Earn Vital First Win, Deepen Mutilvera’s Woes in Valle de Aranguren

For Náxara, the windswept afternoon at Estadio Municipal Valle de Aranguren may one day be seen as a turning point. Arriving in Pamplona’s outskirts with their early season campaign teetering on the edge—winless in five, adrift near the foot of the Segunda División RFEF Group 2—Náxara produced their most decisive display of the season, dispatching Mutilvera 3-1 and leaping from the bottom of the table.

Mutilvera, themselves desperate to halt a freefall marked by three consecutive defeats, eyed this fixture as a chance to steady their listing season. Instead, under gray autumn skies, it was Náxara who found clarity and conviction at crucial moments—seizing control just before halftime and never letting go.

A Match Defined in Surges

The opening half was marked by tense, cautious football. Both sides, wary of mistakes, struggled to impose themselves in midfield, and real chances came at a premium. Mutilvera, out to banish recent ghosts after listless setbacks to Tudelano and a bruising 0-4 at home to Logroñés, pressed high but found Náxara’s reorganized backline unyielding.

The critical breakthrough arrived at the symbolic stroke of halftime. On 45 minutes, Náxara capitalized on a lapse in the Mutilvera defense: an incisive through ball sliced open the hosts’ lines, and the visiting forward coolly tucked his finish into the far corner. For Náxara—having scored just three times in their opening five fixtures—the weight of that goal was nearly palpable. Their bench erupted in relief and belief, the team carried buoyed into the interval.

If the first goal had been sharp, the second—just six minutes after the restart—was ruthless. Náxara quickly punished a nervy clearance, regaining possession on the edge of the box and driving home a low effort to double their lead. The hosts, suddenly two behind and with the home support growing restless, were forced to open up and chase the game.

A Flicker of Hope, Then Extinguished

Mutilvera, to their credit, responded. On 64 minutes, with time and hope slipping, they crafted an incisive move down the left. The resulting cross found its mark, and the home side clawed a goal back—igniting Valle de Aranguren and teeing up a tense final half hour.

But as the hosts pressed bodies forward and spaces appeared in midfield, Náxara seized their moment. Breaking quickly from deep, Náxara’s third came in the 79th minute: a fluid counterattack split Mutilvera’s stretched defense, leaving the visiting striker one-on-one to finish clinically and restore a two-goal cushion. Mutilvera’s resistance was broken.

No red cards or unsavory incidents marred the contest; the decisive moments belonged to Náxara’s renewed attacking intent and Mutilvera’s recurring defensive lapses.

Context: A Season at Crossroads

For both clubs, the stakes had already lurched toward the existential even this early in the campaign. Mutilvera, coming off a single win (1-0 over Alavés II) in their first five matches, slipped to 15th with just 4 points from 5 matches—now perilously close to the relegation zone, having surrendered 12 goals in those five outings. Their run of three successive losses is not just a blip but a trend, one that will demand urgent remedy.

Náxara’s plight has been more dire, their previous five yielding just 3 points from 3 draws and 2 losses. This afternoon’s victory—their first of the season—propels them above the bottom, a slender point behind Mutilvera and, crucially, within touching distance of the midtable pack.

Both sides had little recent head-to-head history to draw upon, but this encounter may set the tone for the battles to come at the back end of Group 2.

What Lies Ahead

For Mutilvera, the inquest is immediate. Conceding three at home, failing to arrest a slide that now blurs the promise of early September’s encouraging draw in Ejea, their campaign risks unraveling unless stability is found—starting in defense. The next fixtures become must-win, not just for points but for momentum and belief.

For Náxara, at last, there is light. The first win—always the hardest—arrives as both reward and catalyst. Suddenly, the season opens up: with pressure eased, there is space for optimism, and a sense that an escape is in their grasp. The character shown in Valle de Aranguren will be needed in full measure throughout the long winter.

Saturday’s result was more than three points. It was an assertion—by Náxara, that they will not go quietly; by Mutilvera, an urgent warning that slumps, left unchecked, can become something altogether more permanent. The table is tight, the season young, but already, the stakes feel desperately real.