Duo settle for stalemate

Malaga and Real Valladolid had to settle for a point apiece from their relegation battle in a 1-1 draw.

Malaga and Real Valladolid had to settle for a point apiece from their relegation battle which left both sides with plenty of work still to do to avoid the drop. Roque Santa Cruz put Malaga ahead after 13 minutes, but Daniel Larsson levelled for the visitors after half an hour. The result kept Malaga three points ahead of their opponents in the fight for survival, but this was a match they would have been looking to win to pull further clear of the bottom three. The hosts started strongly, Santa Cruz heading their first chance over, while at the other end Sacha Iakovenko's shot from 20 yards was parried by Diego Marino. The visiting keeper did even better to turn a Nordin Amrabat shot round a post, but was beaten minutes later as Santa Cruz met a Duda corner and directed his header high into the corner of the net. Valladolid finally threatened through a Javi Guerra head which went wide, but they were almost undone again from another Duda corner, only for Sergio Sanchez Ortega to fail to get a clean contact on his header and send the ball wide. The visitors levelled after 30 minutes when Larsson headed home an Antonio Rukavina cross. Malaga continued to waste chances in the second half, Santa Cruz twice heading wide from good positions. But it was Valladolid who almost went in front 10 minutes from time as Oscar's shot crashed back off the bar. And the visitors nearly snatched the points in injury time when Guerra's close-range effort was tipped away by Willy Caballero.