Recreativo Huelva 0 - Villarreal 2

Recreativo: Sorrentino; Iago Bouzón, Beto, Martín Cáceres, Poli (Marquitos 85'); Camuñas, Barber (Gerard 17'), Jesús Vázquez, Aitor (Javi Guerrero 65'); Marco Rubén, Sinama-Pongolle. 4-4-2.
Villarreal: Diego López; Javi Venta, Gonzalo, Godín, Capdevila; Eguren, Marcos Senna; Cani, Nihat (Rossi 83'), Mati Fernández (Cazorla 66'); Tomasson (Guille Franco 59'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Recreativo: Beto for Oliveira / Villarreal: Eguren, Cani, Mati Fernández, Tomasson for Bruno, Cazorla, Pires, Rossi.

Goals:
0-1. 54. Nihat. Curled free kick over defensive wall from outside of area.
0-2. 82. Guille Franco. Turned shot past Sorrentino after Cazorla laid ball in.

Villarreal made sure of second spot in the table with a 0-2 victory on Wednesday evening. The two clubs are close friends, with several Villarreal players having been on loan at the Huelva based club, but there were no favours in a match which both wanted desperately to win.

The home side needed points to move clear of the relegation zone, and they dominated the first half, with Sinama-Pongolle rattling the crossbar and Diego López making two first class saves from Marco Rubén. But the visitors scored with virtually their first shot at goal, Nihat curling a free kick wide of Sorrentino. And with Recre pushing desperately forward, Guille Franco delivered the sucker punch on a rapid counter-attack near the end.