A rain-washed San Mamés braced itself for a routine home win and got instead an afternoon of gnawing anxiety. Athletic Club, expected to brush aside the division's second-bottom side, found themselves a goal down and staring at an embarrassment before Iñaki Williams finally forced the door with eleven minutes left. One apiece was, in the end, a fair reflection of a match that refused to obey the form guide.

For Elche, promoted to the top flight and scrapping for every survival scrap, this felt closer to a triumph than a setback. They arrived without a win, propping up the wrong end of the table, and left with a point prised from one of the Basque Country's fortresses. Facundo Buonanotte's cool penalty had given them something precious to protect, and for half an hour they very nearly held on.

But Athletic have a habit of leaning on their favourite son when the walls close in, and so it proved. Williams, the beating heart of this side, poked home from close range to settle nerves and salvage respectability. The relief in the stands was audible; the frustration, still, unmistakable.

A slow burn

The opening period offered little to quicken the pulse. Athletic dominated possession without ever bending it to purpose, their approach play tidy but toothless, while Elche sat compact and disciplined, happy to soak up pressure and break in short, sharp spells. It was the kind of first half that ends goalless and leaves both benches gesturing for more urgency.

Elche's game plan was clear from the first whistle: deny space, frustrate the rhythm, and wait for the moment. They defended their box with the desperation of a side that knows how thin the margins are at the bottom, throwing bodies in front of everything and refusing to be drawn out of shape. Athletic, for all their territory, kept running into that red-and-white wall.

There was a growing sense of unease around San Mamés long before the interval. The home crowd, accustomed to seeing lesser visitors dispatched with more conviction, shifted in their seats. The half-time whistle brought polite applause and a nagging suspicion that this might not be as simple as the league placings suggested.

Buonanotte strikes

Whatever calm the break offered was shattered five minutes into the second half. Elche won a penalty, and Facundo Buonanotte stepped up to take responsibility with the composure of a man twice his experience. He sent his left-footed strike arrowing into the top-left corner, leaving the goalkeeper no chance and the home support stunned into silence.

It was a goal of real quality in a match that had offered precious little of it, and it reshaped the entire contest. Suddenly Elche had a lead to defend and a reason to believe, and Athletic had a mountain to climb against a side built to make life uncomfortable. The visitors dropped deeper still, inviting pressure, daring their hosts to break them down.

For a long while it looked as though the gamble might pay off handsomely. Athletic huffed and probed but lacked the incision to unpick a defence that grew in confidence with every clearance. The clock ticked, the anxiety thickened, and Elche edged ever closer to a result that would have been the talk of the weekend.

Williams the redeemer

It took a moment of proximity rather than brilliance to break the deadlock, and it was fitting that Iñaki Williams was the man on hand. Alex Berenguer supplied the delivery, and Williams stabbed his left-footed effort into the centre of the goal from very close range in the 79th minute. San Mamés erupted, the tension of the previous half-hour released in a single roar.

The equaliser was the reward for persistence more than polish, but Athletic will not care. Williams has long been the player this club turns to when inspiration is required, and here he provided the finish that spared them a genuinely damaging afternoon. Berenguer's assist was the moment of clarity in a fog of laboured attacking play.

With the scores level, Athletic sensed a chance to snatch all three, pouring forward in the closing stages with a renewed sense of belief. Elche, though, dug in one last time, weathering the late storm to protect the point they had fought so hard to earn. When the whistle finally sounded, both sides could reflect on what might have been.

Where it leaves them

For Athletic Club, this was two points dropped rather than one gained. They stay ninth on seven points, their season a study in inconsistency — two wins, one draw and two defeats, a record of a side still searching for its groove. Seven goals for and six against tells the story of a team that has yet to find any real rhythm at either end of the pitch, and dropping points at home to the division's strugglers will sting.

Elche, by contrast, will board the bus with a spring in their step despite remaining 19th. Two points from five games is a meagre haul, and no wins so far is a worry that will not vanish, but a second draw of the campaign against opposition of this calibre is a marker of resilience. Their goal difference remains ugly, yet the manner of this performance offers something to build on in the fight to come.

The table's shape underlines the gulf in expectation that both clubs will now reassess. Athletic must rediscover the ruthlessness that turns dominance into victory, while Elche will hope this stubborn point is the foundation of a survival scrap rather than a fleeting consolation. On this evidence, neither side can afford to assume anything about what lies ahead.