SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA (Interstat) — Oriente Petrolero built a three-goal lead and held off Nacional Potosi for a 3-2 home victory Wednesday at Estadio Ramón Aguilera Costas in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Oriente Petrolero struck first in the 24th minute when Julio Herrera scored. Joffre Escobar doubled the advantage in the 38th minute, and Jose Flores made it 3-0 in the 56th minute. Escobar finished with one goal and one assist while playing the full match and was the top star for Oriente Petrolero. Flores also had one goal and one assist before leaving in the 75th minute and was cautioned in the 57th. Herrera’s goal came before his 37th-minute substitution, when Oriente Petrolero made its first change of the match.

Nacional Potosi responded through D. Hoyos, who scored in the 70th and 73rd minutes to cut the deficit to one. Hoyos played the full match and finished with two goals. Andreas Torrico and Juan Orellana each supplied an assist for Nacional Potosi. Orellana’s assist came during a 44-minute appearance. The visitors made a broad set of changes in the 46th minute, bringing on Cano E., Villalba D., Medina K. and Solis M. Demiquel L. also entered in the 87th minute. Those changes preceded Hoyos’s two goals.

Discipline shaped the closing stages. Abastoflor C. of Nacional Potosi was booked in the 47th minute and sent off in the 89th. Oriente Petrolero’s Lovera J. and Siles O. were cautioned in the 51st minute, while Demiquel L. of Nacional Potosi was booked in the 53rd. Flores J. received a yellow card in the 57th minute. Oriente Petrolero made its first change in the 37th minute when Herrera J. departed, and Nacif N. entered in the 76th minute. The match included five yellow cards and one red card, with Abastoflor’s dismissal coming after his earlier booking.

Escobar entered the match with recent appearances of 17 minutes at Guabira and 44 minutes with a yellow card against Academia del Balompie. His goal and assist helped Oriente Petrolero secure the home result. The win moved Oriente Petrolero to 2 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw in the competition and 3 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws across all competitions. Nacional Potosi is now 3 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw in the competition and 3 wins, 3 losses and 2 draws across all competitions.

Oriente Petrolero had recently drawn 1-1 at Guabira and beaten Academia del Balompie 1-0. It also had beaten Universitario de Vinto 2-0, lost 2-1 at Guabira, drawn 1-1 with The Strongest and lost 3-0 at Universitario de Vinto in other recent competition matches. Nacional Potosi had lost 1-0 to Bolivar and drawn 2-2 at Aurora in its recent competition matches. It also had beaten Always Ready 3-2, beaten Real Oruro 2-0, drawn 1-1 at Tomayapo, routed Always Ready 9-0 and lost 1-0 to Real Potosi. The home side’s early three-goal burst proved the difference despite being outscored 2-0 after the 56th minute. Nacional Potosi’s two-goal rally came after Oriente Petrolero had controlled the scoreboard through the first hour.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Nacional Potosi 2, Oriente Petrolero 1. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Oriente Petrolero with a 58.3 percent probability to win. Oriente Petrolero had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -0.5. The total score of 5 went under the over/under line of 2.5.