Eibar outperform Sporting to secure three precious points
Sporting pushed for an equaliser but the Armeros' victory was never in any doubt
Eibar claimed three precious points at El Molinón, where they ran out 3-2 winners against Sporting Gijón in a game which the Armeros largely dominated.
José Luis Mendilibar's charges got on the front foot from the first whistle and took the lead with just four minutes on the clock. The visitors were awarded a penalty when Adrián was tripped by Lillo and the midfielder dusted himself down to send Iván Cuéllar the wrong way from the resulting spot-kick.
Just a few minutes later, on 9', lady luck smiled on Sporting as the hosts restored parity. In what was a routine clearance, Asier Riesgo lost his footing and the ball fell kindly to the feet of Carlos Carmona, who fired into an empty net from the edge of the area.
The home side's equaliser failed to sap Eibar's belief, with the visitors continuing to call the shots and utterly dominating in the middle third, where they regained possession on countless occasions before mounting wave after wave of attacks.
Eibar came a whisker away from regaining the lead on 18' when Adrián saw his headed effort from a Pedro León free-kick from the right rattle the upright.
Three minutes later, Adrián - who was heavily involved throughout - unleashed an effort from the edge of the box which Cuéllar was only able to push out as far as León, who slammed the ball home.
Shortly afterwards, Eibar further extended their lead in what was virtually a carbon copy of their second goal. Adrián again let fly from the edge of the area and Cuéllar could only parry the ball as far as the onrushing Antonio Luna, who stole a march on the Sporting backline to fire home from close range.
The Armeros were now firmly in the driving seat with a shaky-looking Sporting at a complete loss to contain the visitors' attacking play.
With 25 minutes on the clock, Asier Riesgo had to be replaced by Yoel after the custodian sustained an injury to his left knee.
Eibar's domination continued after the interval and the visitors could have increased their lead had Takashi Inui and Sergi Enrich made the most of their chances in the 49th and 50th minutes respectively.
On 57' Eibar were again unfortunate to concede when a Nacho Cases drive from the edge of the area deflected off a Sporting player and flew past the wrong-footed Yoel.
That goal gave Sporting a lift and they threw caution to the wind in search of an equaliser. Eibar were well organised defensively and looked to put the game to bed on the counter as the hosts poured forward in a bid to draw themselves level.
Despite the Armeros having to dig deep right until the final whistle after Sporting had clawed their way back into the game, Mendilibar's troops afforded the visitors no chances and claimed three points to move themselves up to ninth and take their tally to 26 points, which gives them a 14-point cushion on the relegation places.