Post by Bismarck on Feb 4, 2008 14:34:46 GMT
SEVILLE, February 2 (Primera Liga) - Deportivo La Coruna moved out of the relegation zone on Saturday night with a deserved victory over fellow strugglers Real Betis.
Pablo Amo struck the only goal in the first half as Depor, who also missed a late penalty through Juan Rodriguez, recorded their second successive league win to climb up to 17th ahead of Sunday's other matches.
Hosts Betis enjoyed the majority of possession in the first half and made most of the forward progress, but it was Depor who created the two best openings of a mediocre opening 45 minutes.
The first Depor opportunity came in the 17th minute when visiting captain Manuel Pablo sent in a cross from the right that found Rodriguez unmarked near the edge of the area.
However, the former Malaga man's first-time volley flew high and wide of the Betis goal.
Depor's next decent opening resulted in what would prove to be the winning goal.
Betis half-cleared a corner but Depor reclaimed possession before feeding the ball out to Argentina international Fabricio Coloccini, whose superb cross into the six-yard box was met on the volley by his fellow defender Amo.
Amo's finish was not the cleanest, with the ball skidding off his foot before hitting the ground and then finding the back of the net via the underside of the crossbar, but that will not have mattered at all to the visitors.
With his side clearly needing more of a cutting edge in the second half, Betis coach Paco Chaparro made a double change at the break, sending on Mark Gonzalez and Xisco for Juan Pablo Caffa and Alberto Rivera.
It was Depor who created the first chance of the second period though when, eight minutes in, Canada international Julian de Guzman latched onto a low cross from the left before firing in a first-time shot that Betis goalkeeper Ricardo did well to parry diving to his right.
From the same attack Rodriguez also tried his luck from outside the area but his curling effort went wide.
Three minutes after that let-off, Betis came within inches of equalising following a bad error by Depor goalkeeper Fabricio.
The youngster - who had taken over the goalkeeping duties after senior custodians Gustavo Munua and Dudu Aouate had been omitted from the squad following last month's well-publicised training ground incident - allowed a comfortable-looking free-kick to squirm through his grasp, and it almost proved costly.
Edu, standing behind Fabricio, sent a header back across the goalmouth which hit the far post and Mariano Pavone, who looked certain to tap-in the loose ball, then saw his close-range effort blocked on the line.
While Fabricio was looking shaky at one end, Ricardo performed heroics to keep his side in the contest with around 15 minutes to go.
First he went airborne to turn away Felipe's effort, before then dashing off his line to bravely bloke Rodriguez's shot after the Depor man had got in behind the Betis defence.
Ricardo's best intervention came in the 78th minute though, when he saved Rodriguez's penalty.
The spot-kick was awarded after Alberto Lopo was brought down by Betis captain Juanito but Ricardo guessed correctly to keep out Rodriguez's resulting penalty.
Betis could not make the most of their goalkeeper's efforts though, and it was Depor who came closest to adding to the scoreline in the closing stages when Rodolfo Bodipo's looping header clipped the top of the crossbar.
Pablo Amo struck the only goal in the first half as Depor, who also missed a late penalty through Juan Rodriguez, recorded their second successive league win to climb up to 17th ahead of Sunday's other matches.
Hosts Betis enjoyed the majority of possession in the first half and made most of the forward progress, but it was Depor who created the two best openings of a mediocre opening 45 minutes.
The first Depor opportunity came in the 17th minute when visiting captain Manuel Pablo sent in a cross from the right that found Rodriguez unmarked near the edge of the area.
However, the former Malaga man's first-time volley flew high and wide of the Betis goal.
Depor's next decent opening resulted in what would prove to be the winning goal.
Betis half-cleared a corner but Depor reclaimed possession before feeding the ball out to Argentina international Fabricio Coloccini, whose superb cross into the six-yard box was met on the volley by his fellow defender Amo.
Amo's finish was not the cleanest, with the ball skidding off his foot before hitting the ground and then finding the back of the net via the underside of the crossbar, but that will not have mattered at all to the visitors.
With his side clearly needing more of a cutting edge in the second half, Betis coach Paco Chaparro made a double change at the break, sending on Mark Gonzalez and Xisco for Juan Pablo Caffa and Alberto Rivera.
It was Depor who created the first chance of the second period though when, eight minutes in, Canada international Julian de Guzman latched onto a low cross from the left before firing in a first-time shot that Betis goalkeeper Ricardo did well to parry diving to his right.
From the same attack Rodriguez also tried his luck from outside the area but his curling effort went wide.
Three minutes after that let-off, Betis came within inches of equalising following a bad error by Depor goalkeeper Fabricio.
The youngster - who had taken over the goalkeeping duties after senior custodians Gustavo Munua and Dudu Aouate had been omitted from the squad following last month's well-publicised training ground incident - allowed a comfortable-looking free-kick to squirm through his grasp, and it almost proved costly.
Edu, standing behind Fabricio, sent a header back across the goalmouth which hit the far post and Mariano Pavone, who looked certain to tap-in the loose ball, then saw his close-range effort blocked on the line.
While Fabricio was looking shaky at one end, Ricardo performed heroics to keep his side in the contest with around 15 minutes to go.
First he went airborne to turn away Felipe's effort, before then dashing off his line to bravely bloke Rodriguez's shot after the Depor man had got in behind the Betis defence.
Ricardo's best intervention came in the 78th minute though, when he saved Rodriguez's penalty.
The spot-kick was awarded after Alberto Lopo was brought down by Betis captain Juanito but Ricardo guessed correctly to keep out Rodriguez's resulting penalty.
Betis could not make the most of their goalkeeper's efforts though, and it was Depor who came closest to adding to the scoreline in the closing stages when Rodolfo Bodipo's looping header clipped the top of the crossbar.