Rayo Vallecano 1 : 3 Sporting de Gijon - Sporting bounce back

Posted Sunday, December 11, 2011 by PA

Sporting Gijon recovered from heavy defeats in the past two weeks to record a comfortable 3-1 victory of their own at Rayo Vallecano.

The visitors dominated the opening period but were handed the opening goal after calamitous defending by Mikel Labaka and David Cobeno presented Diego Barral with an easy tap-in.

Nacho Novo doubled Sporting's advantage nine minutes before half-time from Miguel De Las Cuevas' fine through ball, and the former Rangers striker made sure of all three points with a neat finish following another defensive error, this time from Alejandro Arribas.

Rayo's improvement after the break was rewarded with a consolation goal in stoppage time as Michu proved too strong for Roberto Canella and calmly slotted past Juan Pablo.

The hosts had lost their three previous games, although those fixtures had been against Valencia, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

However, those defeats appeared to have worn away Rayo's confidence and they started the game very tentatively.

And that nervousness was reflected in the opening goal as Cobeno and Labaka ran into one another on the edge of the box and Barral strode in to score his sixth goal of the season.

Cobeno redeemed himself soon after with two smart stops to deny Novo and another brilliant save from Barral.

Yet Rayo were continuing to be caught out by Sporting's movement and the second goal finally arrived when Novo and De Las Cuevas exchanged passes before the former got just enough on his scuffed shot to beat the Rayo keeper.

The home side improved greatly after the break but their final ball was often poor and they clearly missed the pace of Lass Bangoura, who was unavailable due to administrative problems with his visa.

Novo sealed Sporting's fourth win of the season when this time Arribas failed to clear inside his own box and the Spaniard poked the ball into the far corner of Cobeno's net.

Michu's goal with the last action of the game was just reward for Rayo's perseverance in the final quarter, but a fourth straight defeat leaves them just a point above Sporting, who jump out of the relegation zone.