Las Palmas pulls off impossible win at Vallecano
Las Palmas hauled itself up to 15th as its extraordinary revival in LaLiga under Diego Martinez continued with a 3-1 win at Rayo Vallecano.
Looking at the statistics one might think the result would have been the other way around, with Rayo firing off 34 shots to Las Palmas's 11 and dominating with 64 per cent of possession.
But it was the visitors that proved to be the more clinical, and they came away with another valuable three points to move up to 15th on the table.
A sensational performance from goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen also helped Las Palmas, and the Dutchman was named most valuable player at the end of the game for some excellent work between the posts.
Fabio Silva got the scoring started early when he glanced a header home from a corner on six minutes. Rayo Vallecano's own attempt from a corner soon after shaved the crossbar, and that would prove to be the story of its night as it missed chance after chance or was denied by Cillessen.
Las Palmas's second goal came in much the same way as its first, although this time it was Aridane that glanced the ball into his own net on 62 minutes.
Three minutes later, Las Palmas was 3-0 up after a slick counter-attack ended with substitute Manu Fuster curling home with the outside of his right foot.
Vallecano's consolation came in the second minute of stoppage-time when Scott McKenna put through his own net, but the game was well and truly up for the hosts by that point.
Victory for Las Palmas was its third in four league matches under Martinez, and beating Rayo Vallecano away from home was no mean feat either, given the hosts had not lost at Estadio de Vallecas since August.
Las Palmas was bottom of LaLiga when Martinez took over, but is now 15th with 12 points, while for Rayo Vallecano, defeat left it in ninth position with 16 points when a win would have put it back into the top six.
