Valencia 2-3 Las Palmas
Valencia captain Jose Gaya left the pitch to whistles in his return after five months out through injury, as he was unable to do anything to stop Los Che sinking to the bottom of the table. Diego Martinez got a major coup in his debut with Las Palmas.
It all started so well for the home side, who made early pressure pay through a Pepelu penalty after just 14 minutes. The Canary Islanders worked their way back into the game though, and by the end of the half had Valencia under the cosh. A penalty appeal of their own was turned down, but after Giorgi Mamardashvili beat away Adnan Januzaj’s shot, he could do nothing about Alex Munoz’s rebound.
Both sides came out with ambition after the break, with Thierry Correia firing close, and then Munoz testing Mamardashvili again. Las Palmas were more incisive though, after Jose Campana sprung the offside trap, and squeezing a pass around the last defender to leave Fabio Silva along in front of goal, where he did not err.
Gaya was sent on to fire up Mestalla, but Pepelu’s off the ball shove saw him sent off with a little over 20 minutes to go, and Valencia were always struggling to remain compact then. Late on, Oli McBurnie did not end his goal drought, but he did provide a lovely outside of the boot pass for Alberto Moleiro to seal the three points, running onto the ball just inside the box, and placing it just inside the top corner.
A desperate Valencia took advantage of eight minutes of added time to mount a comeback. Gaya reminded Baraja what he’d been missing with a lovely ball in for Cesar Tarrega to power a header home in the 95th minute, but it was too little, too late, for a side that is running low on morale.
Las Palmas will be sky high before they get back on the plane to Gran Canaria, ending a 23-game streak without a victory, and lifting themselves off the bottom of the table, and level on points with their opponents. Just two shy of safety, Martinez could scarcely have wished for a better start to life back in the dugout, and they will be feeling a lot better when they host Girona at home next weekend. Much less so for Valencia, whose trip to Getafe just doubled in size.