Levante 2 Getafe 0: Levante off the bottom

Posted Saturday, January 29, 2011 by PA

Levante climbed off the foot of the Primera Division standings after ending a run of five successive league defeats with a 2-0 victory over Getafe.

Two goals at the start of the second half set Levante on their way to only a fifth league win of the campaign, with Valmiro Valdo scoring in the 47th minute and Felipe Caicedo doubling the lead seven minutes later.

Both teams ended the match with 10 men, Getafe`s Manu del Moral and Xisco Nadal of Levante shown red cards following an incident between the two with 12 minutes to go, but it did not affect the home side as they held on for three points.

Neither side were in the best of form coming into the match, with Getafe having lost four and drawn the other of their five league and cup games in 2011 - having ended 2010 with six wins and two draws from their final eight matches.

It was Levante who had the better of what few chances there were in the opening period, with Xisco Munoz, Caicedo and Valdo all having opportunities, but the scoreline remained locked at 0-0 going into the break.

The hosts were quickly in front after the restart, though, with Valdo firing past visiting goalkeeper Oscar Ustari from close range following a left-wing cross from Juanlu.

Levante then made it 2-0 soon after thanks to Caicedo, the Ecuador international latching onto another cross from Juanlu to slot past Ustari.

Those two quickfire strikes decided the game, and helped the Valencia-based side climb up to 18th spot, level on points with 17th-placed Osasuna, who play Real Madrid on Sunday.

Towards the end of the match Manu and and Levante substitute Nadal - who had only been on the pitch seven minutes - were both shown straight red cards, but that disruption could not deny Levante a morale-boosting triumph.