Real Betis 1 : 0 Osasuna - Betis near survival

Posted Sunday, April 15, 2012 by PA

Real Betis took another step to ensuring they will definitely be playing Primera Division football next season as Ruben Castro's goal was enough to hand them a 1-0 win over Osasuna.

Castro's fine strike from just outside the area 10 minutes before half-time was a rare moment of quality in an otherwise uninspiring first half.

And any hopes of an Osasuna comeback after the break were dealt a blow on the hour mark when top-scorer Raul Garcia was given an extremely harsh red card for a foul on Jefferson Montero on the halfway line.

However, Betis failed to add more goals with their man advantage and were fortunate not to concede late on when Ibrahima Balde headed just wide and had a strong penalty claim waved away.

Betis manager Pepe Mel had admitted in his pre-match press conference that one more win would go a long way to staving off any final threat of relegation and, despite the opportunity for Osasuna to close the gap on those in the Champions League places, it was the hosts who were the more adventurous early on.

Roque Santa Cruz should have done better when Beqat's free-kick fell to him inside the area on 10 minutes, but the on-loan Manchester City striker could not control his shot on the turn.

Castro had been due to be suspended for the match after picking up his fifth booking of the season in the 1-1 draw at Real Sociedad on Tuesday.

Betis, though, successfully appealed for his yellow card to be rescinded and they were rewarded with his fifth goal in six games as he slammed the ball past Andres from just outside the area on 35 minutes.

Osasuna posed a little more threat after the break and Fabricio was forced into saves by Alvaro Cejudo and Roland Lamah from long-range efforts, but the visitors were controversially reduced to 10 men just 16 minutes into the second half when Garcia was shown a straight red card for a clip on Montero.

The midfielder barely made any contact with the Betis winger and was even on the ground himself by the time Montero finally went down.

Montero nearly rubbed salt into Osasuna's wounds when his shot from an angle was beaten away by Andres and Jorge Molina missed a glorious chance to seal all three points when he shot straight at the keeper when clean through with nine minutes to go.

However, Jose Luis Mendilibar had introduced Ibrahima in the hope of a late equaliser and the Senegalese twice had strong shouts for a penalty waved away as he appeared to have been pushed in the back when heading wide Patxi Punal's cross and was then caught by Iriney as the Betis midfielder tried to clear inside the area in stoppage time, but again referee Ayza Gamez was unmoved.