Levante 3 : 5 Rayo Vallecano - Bangoura and Costa inspire Rayo

Posted Sunday, February 19, 2012 by PA

Alhassane Bangoura and Diego Costa both scored twice as Rayo Vallecano inflicted a 5-3 defeat on Levante.

Andrija Delibasic also scored for the visitors, while Levante's goals came from Jose Barkero and Ruben Suarez, who scored twice including a last-minute penalty.

After launching their Primera Division campaign with a pair of draws followed by seven wins, Levante have hopelessly lost their way.

Coach Juan Ignacio Martinez's side have now lost 13 of 20 games in all competitions, and are without a win in their last eight.

Fourth in the table before the weekend, they have now slipped to seventh place and are looking over their shoulders.

Rayo went ahead in the 35th minute when Jose Movilla played the ball through for Bangoura, from a position right of goal, to rifle the ball past Gustavo Munua.

Levante reacted well, putting on plenty of pressure, and were level five minutes into the second half after Jorge Pulido fouled Abdelkader Ghezzal to give away a spot-kick, converted into the bottom left corner by Barkero.

The flow of the play suggested Levante were the most likely next scorers too, but instead Rayo scored twice in the space of two minutes, firstly in the 61st minute when Costa headed into the bottom left corner from Piti's left-wing corner.

Costa had his second goal almost immediately when Bangoura crossed from the right and he tucked the ball into the right corner from 12 yards.

Ghezzal hit the bar for the home side, but they were soon 4-1 behind.

The fourth goal for the visitors came in the 70th minute, as Bangoura was able to head home from six yards.

Levante pulled one back eight minutes later, when Suarez drilled a left-footed strike into the top right corner following Barkero's corner swung over from the left.

Delibasic, on as a substitute in place of Bangoura, hit Rayo's fifth goal with six minutes remaining, converting a pass from Piti.

The drama continued though, with Pulido again culpable in giving away a spot-kick as he impeded Valmiro Valdo in stoppage-time, allowing Suarez to score his second.

There was still time for Piti to hit the bar as Rayo went after a sixth.