Rayo Vallecano moved into ninth place in the La Liga table with a narrow 1-0 win over 10-man Malaga.
It was Vallecano who started the better of the two teams, but Raul Baena and Roberto Trashorras could not find a way through as Malaga defended solidly during the opening stages.
Malaga came back into the game, with Samu Castillejo having an effort saved by Cristian Alvarez, but, midway through the first half, Vallecano went ahead as Gael Kakuta headed Alberto Bueno's cross into the bottom corner.
A minute later, the visitors should have equalised but Castillejo saw his close-range header saved by Alvarez, before the midfielder sent a shot off target on the half-hour mark.
Vallecano came back out for the second half on the front foot with Baena heading over from 10 yards before Manucho had a shot well blocked by the Malaga defence.
Soon afterwards, Manucho powered a header over the crossbar, and Malaga nearly capitalised when Juanmi was provided with an opening inside the penalty area, only to see his shot blocked by a defender.
With 16 minutes remaining, Malaga were reduced to 10 men after Marcos Angeleri was dismissed for a second yellow card, but they initially showed that the disadvantage may not hinder them when Arthur Boka almost struck.
It was Vallecano who finished the stronger, with Emiliano Insua going close from distance, and they were able to comfortably hold on to their slender advantage to secure all three points.
Darren Plant
