Primera Liga: Villarreal beat Almeria 2-0 to move up to sixth place

Ikechukwu Uche scored both goals as Villarreal comfortably beat Almeria 2-0 to move up to sixth place in the Primera Division.

The Nigerian forward had not scored in the league since the opening day of the season but struck either side of half-time to see off Francisco Rodriguez's side, who matched the hosts for possession but lacked the same deadliness in front of goal.

The Yellow Submarine swarmed over their opponents from the start and created their first clear chance in the seventh minute, Cani pulling the ball back for Moi Gomez to aim at goal, but Ruben Martinez made the save.

The visitors were unable to gain much ground on their opponents but Ximo Navarro forced Sergio Asenjo to dive low to keep out a long-range effort that was heading in.

Villarreal took a deserved lead midway through the first half, the move originating from an excellent cross-field pass from Cani towards Giovani. The Mexican volleyed towards goal and Ruben could only parry the ball towards his right-hand side, where Uche was lurking to nod home from just a few yards out.

The Nigerian could have scored again before the break when he rounded Ruben but Mauro dos Santos stuck out a leg to prevent a second goal. At the other end, Edgar found space to shoot on the edge of the area, but again Asenjo made the save.

Uche got the second goal he craved a quarter of an hour into the second half, although he was not without a huge slice of good fortune.

The striker arrived in the six-yard box to get on the end of a diagonal ball from Gomez but shot straight at Ruben, only for the ball to bounce back right into his path, with the goalkeeper now behind the line, and on this occasion did not miss. Replays showed that Uche was offside when Gomez crossed, but the goal stood nonetheless.

Denis Cheryshev could have netted a third in the final few minutes when he was put through but Ruben came rushing out of his goal and the Russian forward went to ground and was booked for diving rather than awarded a foul.