Almeria 0 - 1 Rayo Vallecano: Kakuta goal wins it for Rayo

Posted Tuesday, December 02, 2014 by PA

Gael Kakuta's late strike saw Rayo Vallecano take another big stride away from the relegation zone with a 1-0 win over struggling Almeria.

Rayo came into the match on the back of a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo last week which arrested a worrying slide, and Kakuta's 86th minute strike saw them follow it up with a victory which gives them a seven-point cushion over the bottom three.

Almeria, however, sit outside the drop zone on goal difference only, and have now picked up only one point from their last six matches.

Luck is certainly not on their side as this was an evenly-balanced affair on the whole, but Almeria failed to capitalise when in the ascendancy in the first half, and paid the price in the second.

Early on, Almeria had plenty of chances, with the tone set when Jonathan Zongo struck at goal after just 15 seconds.

However, they were not finding the target enough to worry Cristian Alvarez with further efforts from Zongo and Tomer Hemed off target before the goalkeeper got down to push Hemed's low shot around the post eight minutes before the break.

Having done enough to make it to the break on level terms, Rayo began to turn the tide in the second half, and from the hour mark onwards it seemed there would be only one winner - if there was to be one at all.

Javier Aquino's shot flew over but Ruben Martinez had to be alert to keep out Leo Baptistao's low shot in the 67th minute.

Time was starting to run out but with four minutes left in normal time, Alberto Bueno crossed for Kakuta and the on-loan Chelsea forward made no mistake in rifling home a volley from close range.