Albacete 0 - Málaga 1

Albacete: Almunia; Oscar Montiel, Pablo, Unai, Cristian Díaz; Pablo García (Iván Díaz 60'), Viaud, Parri, Delporte; Aranda (Pacheco 55'), Mikel (Amato 70'). 4-4-2.
Málaga: Calatayud; Josemi, Fernando Sanz, Litos, Rojas; Gerardo, Miguel Angel; Manu (Leko 65'), Edgar, Duda (Canabal 90'); Salva (Diego Alonso 80'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Albacete: Almunia, Unai, Delporte, Aranda for Roa, Buades, David Sánchez, Munteanu / Málaga: Rojas, Gerardo for Valcarce, Romero.

Goals:
0-1. 62. Salva. Got on end of Duda's cross to turn ball past keeper.

Albacete's run of three home wins in a row came to an end when they lost 0-1 to Málaga, and they found themselves back down in the relegation zone at the end of the weekend. César Ferrando's side had the better of the first half but couldn't find the route to goal, with Unai and Delporte both shooting wide and Aranda firing a shot straight at Calatayud when free in front of goal.

The match continued in the same vein after the break, with Parri crashing a shot against the bar. But Albacete paid dearly for their mistakes when Duda found Salva with a cross from the left, the ex Spanish international showing his opponents how to do it with a first time volley past Almunia, who was standing in for the suspended Roa. It was virtually their first effort on target, but after that they called it a day and ran down the clock to the end.

Parri was the only one who could have saved a point for the locals, but even the Spanish under 21 international had problems when he got himself sent off in injury time for protesting. Albacete are finding life hard in the top flight, and with a visit to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium coming up next it will not get any easier. Málaga move up to the top half of the table with their win though, and Juande Ramos was a happy man.