Las Palmas 2 - Alavés 1

Las Palmas: Cicovic (Orlando Quintana 46'); Edu Alonso, Schurrer, Alvaro, Paqui; Samways, Jayo (Tevenet 46'); Jorge, Josico, Carmelo (Rubén 74'); Orlando. 4-2-3-1.
Alavés: Kike; Geli, Karmona, Coloccini, Llorens; Pablo (Witschge 80'), Turiel; Astudillo, Magno (Lombardi 60'), Jordi Cruyff (Vucko 80'); Rubén Navarro. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Las Palmas: Cicovic, Schurrer, Samways, Jorge, Carmelo for Nacho González, Angel, Sarasúa, Pablo Lago, Tevenet / Alavés: No change.

Goals:
0-1. 14. Astudillo. Charged down Jorge clearance after Geli headed against post.
1-1. 30. Jorge. Beat keeper from edge of area after Orlando passed across.
2-1. 74. Josico. Beat Kike with header after Orlando laid ball in from left.

Las Palmas recorded their first win in nine games to move back out of the relegation zone. Despite their recent poor form a good 20,000 crowd turned out, urging on their heroes from the first minute to the last accompanied by a firework display and a tickertape entrance. Vinny Samways returned to the side after missing two games through injury, and Jorge was back after a one match ban. The big news though was the absence of their first choice keeper Nacho González, who had been suspended by the federation after irregularities were reported by the Italian authorities over his passport documentation. The club are trying to get him registered as a non-EU player until things can be sorted out, but in the meantime his place was taken by Zeljko Cicovic. Alavés were unchanged from the side which beat Valladolid last week.

The home side responded to their fans' support at first, putting Kike under pressure right from the start. However they found themselves behind to an unlucky goal, Astudillo charging down Jorge's clearance near to goal and deflecting the ball in to the net. There were a few more nervous moments before Jorge equalised on the half hour mark with a shot from the edge of the area, although Astudillo almost restored the lead before the break when he beat the keeper only to see his goal ruled out for a previous foul. At half time Cicovic had to be replaced by young B team keeper Orlando Quintana after pulling a muscle taking a goal kick, and Vázquez also put on an additional forward Tevenet. Las Palmas went for broke, and they got their reward with a quarter of an hour to go when Josico headed the winner. The crowd celebrated in style, their team back on the road to salvation. Mané has to go back to the drawing board, having now lost five out of the last six games. Even so they stay in eighth place, still with a reasonable chance of making the UEFA spots this year.