David Moyes’s Real Sociedad continued their climb away from trouble at the bottom of La Liga with a hard fought draw over local rivals Athletic Bilbao.
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The Basque derby ended goalless but it was Moyes’ boys who came closest to taking all three points and after picking up four points in two games his side are now up to 12th and two points clear of local rivals Athletic.
La Real were fortunate not to concede a first half penalty when summer signing Asier Illarramendi handled in the box but they dominated the second half and could have won the game when another summer arrival Jonathas missed a late double chance.
Elsewhere, Deportivo La Coruna moved up to sixth in La Liga after beating Espanyol 3-0 at Riazor.
FT: Real Sociedad 0 – Athletic Club 0. 3 draws from 3 for David Moyes and Valverde in the Basque derby. pic.twitter.com/1T4xR8tAG5
— AS English (@English_AS) September 27, 2015
An early own goal by Alvaro Gonzalez put the hosts on their way and then Lucas Perez scored either side of half-time to wrap up a second straight win for Victor Sanchez del Amo’s side.
Things went from bad to worse for Espanyol late in the game as Pape Diop was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Real Betis produced a second-half turnaround to win 2-1 at Sporting Gijon and picked up their first away victory of the season.
Carlos Castro put the hosts ahead in the 16th minute but Joaquin headed Betis level two minutes after the break and then Ruben Castro completed the turnaround with an impressive strike from outside the area.
Both sides missed several chances in the remaining half an hour but Betis held on and moved to eight points for the season, while Sporting remain on five.
Finally, Getafe secured a 3-0 home victory over Levante to leave the visitors languishing in La Liga’s bottom three.
Two goals from the impressive Alvaro Vazquez and a third from Emiliano Buendia, all in the game’s final 10 minutes, secured victory when a goalless draw had looked likely
