A first half goal from Dominican left back Junior Firpo on Sunday led Real Betis to a 1-0 La Liga win over Real Sociedad, who saw its victorious run end at two matches.
Betis revealed its intention in the early going against a team that was missing many of its regular starters, including Spanish defenders Aritz Elustondo, Diego Llorente and Raul Navas, which undermined its impressive run playing away from home, reports Efe news.
Although Betis controlled the ball, Real Sociedad gradually gained confidence and approached the home side's goal, but neither team was able to draw blood by the half-hour mark.
On the first attempt on the goal off a corner, Betis managed to open the scoring in the 33rd minute, when an unmarked Junior Firpo fired home.
Real Sociedad had to pull themselves together and tried to hit back as Spanish forward Sandro Ramirez had the equalizer between his legs, if not for a nice save by Spanish goalkeeper Pau Lopez.
Shortly after Sandro's attempt, Real Sociedad's Spanish midfielder David Zurutuza was set up for a one-on-one situation against Lopez, who saved the day.
Post intermission, Betis sought to regain control of the game after being under pressure during the final stretch of the first half, while Sociedad went for the equalizer.
However, Lopez prevented Sociedad from finding the back of the net as he made two nice saves back to back; first on a shot by Sandro and then a header from Brazilian striker Willian Jose.
After the win, Betis temporarily holds the tenth spot in La Liga table with 19 points, on goal differential behind Sociedad.
--IANS
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