Sevilla ended a five-match losing streak with a deserved 1-0 win over a depleted Osasuna.
Gregorio Manzano welcomed back Jesús Navas to the starting eleven and the winger proved the difference between the sides in what was generally a disappointing encounter.
Freddie Kanoute headed the only goal from a Navas free-kick ten minutes before the break and, thereafter, the home side were rarely threatened by an Osasuna side that has won only two points and scored four goals away from home all season.
Sevilla started brightly with Osasuna goalkeeper Ricardo denying Diego Capel within the first minute before Alvaro Negredo miscued with a header at the back post. Ricardo again foiled Capel, this time with a much clearer one-on-one opportunity, inside the first 10 minutes.
Such was home side’s dominance that goalkeeper Andres Palop played almost as an auxiliary sweeper in the first-half, often rushing from his goal to scupper any sign of an Osasuna counter-attack. However, the Sevilla captain was forced into a save from Juanfran just before the 20 minute mark.
Sevilla finally made the breakthrough on 35 minutes . Navas swung over a free-kick from the left for Kanoute to head home his sixth league goal of the season.
In a somewhat turgid second-half the hosts’ intensity dropped slightly as they seemed happy to happy to settle for the narrow margin of victory after an awful run of form. Osasuna obliged in providing very little threat going forward. Coach Jose Antonio Camacho was missing five first-team regulars, with Walter Pandiani, Nacho Monreal and Javier Camuñas all injured and Iranian internationals Javad Nekounam and Masoud away at the Asia cup, and it showed badly. Juanfran was the only visiting player that looked capable of creating a chance but he often lacked support in the final third.
Overall, a vital win for Manzano’s Sevilla which moves them up to ninth in the table, six points ahead of Osasuna in fifteenth.
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