For sixty-six minutes the Estadio Coliseum belonged to Getafe, a home side scratching for something to cling to in a season that had begun in fits and starts. Then Ramón Terrats swept them ahead, and for a dozen glorious minutes the table seemed to tilt their way. It did not last. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a striker who has spent a career punishing hesitation, rose at the near post to head Deportivo level and keep their unbeaten record intact.

A 1-1 draw felt, in the end, like a fair reflection of a match that swung on two moments and little else. Getafe carried the lead they earned; Deportivo carried the resilience that has defined their opening weeks. When the whistle went, it was the visitors who walked off with the broader smiles, their place among La Liga's early front-runners undisturbed.

This was a game of small margins and large consequences, the kind of afternoon that can shape a campaign long before the leaves turn. Getafe will rue the fact that a lead so hard-won slipped away with twelve minutes still to play. Deportivo will simply note, with quiet satisfaction, that they refuse to lose.

Terrats strikes on the break

The breakthrough, when it arrived, was a thing of speed and clean execution. Getafe broke at pace, Iván Azón driving forward before laying the ball into the path of Terrats in the centre of the box. The midfielder took a touch, opened up his body and steered a left-footed shot into the bottom-left corner. The Coliseum roared as one, a stadium that had waited patiently for a reason to believe.

It was the reward for a home side that had grown into the contest, growing bolder as the second half wore on. The counter-attack was crisp and decisive, Azón's run stretching a Deportivo defence that had looked composed until that instant. Terrats did the rest with the calm of a man who had rehearsed the moment.

For Getafe, mired in the lower reaches of the table, the goal carried the weight of a season's hopes. A win here would have hauled them clear of the early gloom and offered a platform to build upon. For a quarter of an hour, that vision felt tantalisingly close.

Aubameyang levels

Deportivo's response was swift and clinical. On seventy-eight minutes Yeremay Hernández swung in a cross from the left, and there was Aubameyang, ghosting to the six-yard box to plant a header into the centre of the goal. It was a finish of pure instinct, the movement of a striker who has made a living from arriving at precisely the right moment.

The equaliser silenced the home crowd and restored the natural order of an afternoon that had briefly threatened to defy it. Yeremay's delivery was inviting, but the finish belonged entirely to the veteran, whose knack for the decisive intervention remains undimmed. It was the kind of goal that separates a side clinging on from a side genuinely chasing the summit.

From there Deportivo saw the game out with the assurance of a team that has not tasted defeat all season. The lead had been surrendered, but the point was salvaged, and with it the momentum that has carried them into the top five. Getafe, so briefly in command, were left to reckon with what might have been.

What the table says

The draw leaves Deportivo fifth on nine points, unbeaten through five matches with two wins and three draws to their name. It is a start that speaks of steadiness rather than swagger, a side that grinds out results and refuses to be beaten. Nine goals scored and six conceded tell of a team still finding its rhythm at the sharp end, but the unbeaten column is the one that matters most.

For Getafe, fourteenth on five points, the picture is more troubling. One win, two draws and two defeats have left them adrift of the pack, and with only three goals scored all season, the struggle for fluency in front of goal is plain. This felt like a chance to arrest the slide, and it slipped through their fingers in the closing quarter.

The gap between the sides — four points and nine places — was not obvious in the flow of the match, but the standings rarely lie over the course of a season. Deportivo have the look of a team that knows how to protect what it has. Getafe, by contrast, are still searching for the ruthlessness to turn promise into points.

The road ahead

For Deportivo, the challenge now is to convert their stubborn resilience into something more emphatic. Three draws in five matches is the mark of a side that does not lose, but the leap into genuine contention will demand that some of those points become full ones. Aubameyang's continued sharpness gives them a focal point around which to build, and Yeremay's creativity offers ammunition. The foundations are sound; the finishing touches remain.

Getafe face a longer and more anxious road. A single point from a match they led is the sort of return that gnaws at confidence, and the numbers at the foot of the table demand a swift response. The manner of the performance — spirited, organised, dangerous on the break — offers something to build upon, but spirit alone will not lift them clear of danger.

What both sides will take from the Coliseum is a sense of unfinished business. Deportivo escaped with their unbeaten run intact and their standing secure; Getafe were left with the bitter taste of a lead squandered. The season is young, but afternoons like this have a way of echoing long into the winter.