Villarreal 1 : 1 Racing de Santander - Acosta costs Villarreal

Posted Sunday, April 15, 2012 by PA

Lautaro Acosta's last-gasp equaliser secured a point in a 1-1 draw for rock-bottom Racing Santander and put a dent in Villarreal's bid to pull clear of the Primera Division relegation zone.

The home side, desperate for some good news after losing star striker Giuseppe Rossi for another six months this week due to a recurrence of a knee injury, appeared to be heading for all the points after Hernan Perez put them in front early in the second half.

But in the fourth minute of injury time Acosta got his head onto Jairo's cross to secure a dramatic draw for the visitors.

The point does little to ease Racing's plight at the foot of the standings, and they remain 10 points behind Villarreal, who occupy the last position of safety.

Villarreal, meanwhile, will be frustrated to see their gap to the drop zone cut to five points, after Real Zaragoza, second-bottom at the start of the day, closed the deficit with a 1-0 win over Granada.

Racing came into the match amid concern over the health of coach Alvaro Cervera, who was admitted to hospital on Friday after suffering chest pains and has been kept in over the weekend for observation.

With assistants Fede Castanos and Pablo Pinillos in charge, Racing just about edged a scrappy opening period, with Julian Luque going close for the visitors after 25 minutes with a shot that was gathered by Diego Lopez.

Perez fired wide with Villarreal's only chance of the half just before the break, but there was still time for Racing to go close before the interval when Adrian Gonzalez forced Lopez into another save.

The breakthrough arrived in the 47th minute when Borja Valero's cross from the left was steered home into the right corner by Perez.

Pedro Munitis flashed a shot wide as Racing sought an immediate response while Angel Lopez went close to making it two for Villarreal on 52 minutes when he missed the target from close range.

All the chances in the final 20 minutes went the way of the hosts, with Carlos Marchena sending a header wide before Bruno Soriano, Nilmar and Gonzalo Castellani each spurned presentable openings.

The Estadio El Madrigal faithful were getting twitchy as the home side passed up these chances to seal the points, and the inevitable finally happened deep into injury time when Jairo launched the ball into the box and Acosta gleefully headed home.