Villarreal 2 - 0 Real Betis: Villarreal on the rise as pressure increases on Real Betis boss Gus Poyet

Villarreal moved up into third place in LaLiga with a 2-0 win over Real Betis at El Madrigal to increase the pressure on Los Verdiblancos boss Gus Poyet.

Goals from Manu Trigueros and Roberto Soriano condemned Betis to a fourth defeat in five LaLiga matches.

Betis created a chance inside the opening 10 minutes when Cristiano Piccini shot wide after good work from Felipe Gutierrez.

Slowly, though, the Yellow Submarine increased the tempo and took the lead on 21 minutes through a fine long-range effort from Trigueros.

There seemed little on when the ball was played back into the middle after an attack through the left channel had broken down.

Trigueros, though, took a couple of touches to set himself before dispatching a bullet into the top-right corner past Antonio Adan from the best part of 30 yards.

Victor Ruiz was close to making it 2-0 on 34 minutes when he struck the crossbar following a free-kick into the Betis penalty area.

Villarreal did double their lead early in the second half with another spectacular long-range effort.

On 52 minutes, Soriano cut back in from the left and then promptly drilled the ball high into the centre of the Betis goal.

Congo forward Cedric Bakambu could have further extended Villarreal's advantage, but was thwarted by a couple of good saves from Adan, who also turned away a goal-bound effort from Samu Castillejo.

Betis had a chance to get themselves back into the match with 17 minutes left, but Ruben Castro's angled effort was just wide.

Cristiano Piccini and Alex Alegria were both then denied by Villarreal keeper Sergio Asenjo as Betis tasted defeat again.