Marco Ruben had two goals disallowed as Villarreal's match with Espanyol at El Madrigal tonight ended 0-0.
The striker firstly had an effort chalked off when he was adjudged to have poked the ball out of Kiko Casilla's hands on its way into the net.
Espanyol had chances of their own but striker Uche was particularly wasteful in front of goal.
He missed a brace of headers in the first half, firstly nodding across goal but wide of the post, before being denied at the near post by Diego Lopez.
The Nigerian forward was then foiled by Lopez again when the Villarreal stopper got down well to save from a 1-on-1 early in the second period.
Ruben found the net again twenty minutes from time but on this occasion his effort was ruled out for offside.
It was then Espanyol's turn to feel aggrieved when they had an effort ruled out for an apparent foul on Villarreal goalkeeper Lopez.
The result leaves the Yellow Submarines four points clear of Real Zaragoza in the relegation zone, while Espanyol remain seventh in the La Liga table.
Joe Fish
