Real Sociedad 2 : 0 Zaragoza - Martinez and Vela on target for Sociedad

Posted Sunday, September 16, 2012 by PA

Second-half efforts from Inigo Martinez and Carlos Vela handed Real Sociedad a 2-0 victory against a disappointing Real Zaragoza side at Anoeta.

After a goalless first half Martinez headed home in the 55th minute to break the deadlock and within six minutes the hosts had a second.

Javier Paredes took down Vela to concede a penalty and the Mexico forward picked himself up to convert from the spot.

Zaragoza were short of ideas in attack for much of the 90 minutes but at least started with a semblance of forward momentum.

First, Stefan Babovic's left-wing cross was intercepted by Claudio Bravo before reaching its target in the box then, after seven minutes, Helder Postiga volleyed towards goal but it lacked the necessary power.

The Zaragoza pair then combined after 15 minutes, Babovic with the cross and Postiga heading straight at Bravo.

The game descended into a scrappy affair thereafter, with Sociedad offering precious little in the final third until 33 minutes.

Alberto De la Bella provided the cross and Antoine Griezmann met it with a strong shot that required a parried save from Roberto.

Sociedad had one further chance to open the scoring before half-time, Griezmann feeding Imanol Agirretxe who botched the chance from 12 yards.

Postiga shot over three minutes into the second period but it was the home team that took the lead.

The goal came from a Vela corner, Martinez meeting the ball first and heading into the roof of the net.

One became two in the 61st minute when Vela drew the foul from Paredes and slotted the penalty home left-footed.

The visitors' response was disappointing and it took almost a quarter of an hour to muster a wayward strike from Jose Mari.

Their best chances continued to fall to Postiga but the Portuguese was no nearer to finding the net, shooting over the bar and heading wide with a decent injury-time chance.