David Moyes's Real Sociedad have been forced to settle for a 1-1 draw after being pegged back late on by Celta Vigo at Anoeta this evening.
The visitors made a promising start to the contest, although it was Imanol Agirretxe who found the game's first goal for the Royals inside the opening seven minutes.
Xabi Prieto cushioned the ball down for the Spanish striker, and he did not need a second invitation to head beyond the reach of Sergio Alvarez and fire his side into an early lead.
An open first half saw both sides come close to finding the net, with Santiago Mina heading narrowly wide for Celta before Agirretxe tried his luck with a first-time volley that was straight at Alvarez between the sticks.
The game petered out following a lively opening 15 minutes, and it was not until 10 minutes after the half-time interval that another goal seemed likely.
Mina was again involved, firing a volley at Geronimo Rulli, while Gustavo Cabral saw his header go narrowly over the bar.
Celta, who have recently come off the back of a 10-game winless run, appeared to be running out of ideas as Nolito lashed over, but his big moment was to come moments later.
The Spaniard turned inside the box and found a way past Rulli from a tight angle to rescue a point for his side with just five minutes remaining.
A frustrated Moyes watched on as his charges attempted to muster a late chance to regain their lead, but it was not to be, meaning that they remain in the bottom half of the La Liga table, while Celta stay 10th.
Daniel Lewis
