Valladolid blanks Almeria

Sep 25, 2008 - 9:39 PM By PA SportsTicker

Almeria's unbeaten start to the season came to an abrupt end as the Andalusian side went down to a spirited Valladolid side, 2-0, on Thursday evening.

Alvaro Rubio struck the opener halfway through the second half and Haris Medunjanin added a second in the fifth minute of injury time to give Valladolid its second home success of the campaign and end Almeria's hopes of joining Villarreal at the top of the Primera Liga.

But the Valladolid midfielder later was sent off following a second yellow card in the closing stages.

And the game saw more controversy as Almeria was erroneously denied an equalizer by the assistant referee's flag shortly after Valladolid went ahead.

Both Valladolid and Almeria are in their second season back in the Primera Liga, although their fortunes have been mixed since promotion to the top-flight.

Valladolid began strongly last season, but ended up in a relegation dogfight and eventually finished just above the drop zone in 15th place.

Almeria, meanwhile, started more slowly last term, but enjoyed a wonderful second half to the season and even challenged for a place in Europe before finally ending up in eighth spot.

And the pattern had seemed set to continue this season.

Valladolid lost two of their three matches before this one, but did beat Atletico Madrid in its second game of the campaign.

But Almeria came into this match unbeaten on seven points and had the chance to draw level with Primera Liga pace-setters Villarreal.