Spanish Primera Division: Athletic Bilbao claim a deserved yet narrow win over Almeria

Athletic Bilbao continued to keep the pressure on the teams above them with a deserved 2-1 victory over Almeria at San Mames.

Athletic have been the form team in La Liga over the last few weeks and Saturday's win, secured by goals from Xabier Etxeitia and Mikel Rico in the opening half-hour, was their fifth on the trot and saw them move to within five points of Malaga in seventh.

Almeria did manage to reduce the deficit when home defender Mikel Balenziaga put through his own net at the start of the second half, but they never really threatened an equaliser as their winless run stretched to six games.

It took Athletic just nine minutes to take the lead as Etxeitia climbed above a group of players to glance in Benat Etxebarria's corner.

In what was a rampant start by the home side, Ibai Gomez struck the crossbar five minutes later and Almeria survived two more scares before Athletic doubled their lead in the 26th minute.

Almeria goalkeeper Julian Cuesta's punch from a right-wing cross only went as far as Rico on the edge of the box and he chested the ball down before lofting a shot over the stranded Julian and into the net.

At that stage it was looking set to be an Athletic romp, but somehow Almeria managed to get through to half-time only 2-0 down despite Rico, Iker Muniain (twice), Guillermo and Inaki Williams all going close for the hosts.

Athletic really should have been out of sight following a dominant first-half showing, but they were not and could have paid the penalty as Almeria pulled a goal back in the 47th minute when Wellington Silva's cross deflected in off Balenziaga.

That was only the second goal Athletic have conceded in six matches since suffering a crushing 5-2 home mauling at the hands of Barcelona and gave Almeria an unexpected boost.

However, the Andalusian side could not get any closer and Athletic had the chances to finish the game off well before the end, with Guillermo and Williams unable to take two of the home side's openings.

That kept Almeria in contention right until the end but opportunities were few and far between and they ended up finishing the match with 10 men as Fran Velez picked up a second yellow card in stoppage time.