Villarreal 1 - Recreativo Huelva 0

Villarreal: Reina; Belletti, Berruet, Ballesteros, Arruabarrena; Guayre (Javi Venta 77'), Marcos Senna, Josico, Jorge López; Víctor, Palermo. 4-4-2.
Recreativo: Luque; Javi García, Alex, Loren, Sergio Tejero (Merino 35'); Camacho, Cubillo (Viqueira 66'); Kaiku, Mario Bermejo (Xisco 66'), Benítez; Raúl Molina. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Villarreal: Ballesteros for Unai / Recreativo: Benítez, Raúl Molina for Oscar Arpón, Xisco.

Goals:
1-0. 64. Víctor. Free kick from right of area which caught Luque out of position.

Villarreal breathed a sigh of relief after struggling to beat a passive Recreativo Huelva side on Sunday evening. Benito Floro's team have now taken seven points from their last three games, and move away from the bottom spots to twelfth after flirting with the relegation zone only a month ago. The visitors though drop back down to the bottom of the table, and after their first home victory last week gave them hope, wins for Espanyol and Osasuna mean that they now find themselves once more in trouble.

Visiting manager Lucas Alcaraz opted to stick to the same block of players who pulled the game out of the fire against Racing, with Raúl Molina returning in attack and Benítez returning on the left wing. His side were never really in the game though, and the locals should have taken the lead in the first half, with Palermo wasting a good chance early on and Jorge López hitting the inside of the post with a shot from left of goal on the stroke of half time. However they had to wait until midway through the second half when Víctor finally beat Luque with a well struck free kick. Villarreal kept up the pressure after that, but a long shot from Camacho which hit the bar almost caught Reina out near the end.