More home comforts for Eibar at Ipurua
The Armeros recorded a third successive home win to move on to 21 points
Eibar maintained their fine record at Ipurua after running out 3-1 winners over Real Betis. This latest home triumph, which was secured courtesy of goals from Pedro León, Sergi Enrich and Kike García, leaves the Armeros sitting pretty in the higher reaches of the table.
José Luis Mendilibar's side have succeeded in making Ipurua into a fortress, having claimed 16 of their 21 points on home soil, a return which makes them one of the division's strongest sides on their own patch.
This victory all hung on events in the 17th minute, in which Inui latched onto a fine through ball from Sergi Enrich and as the Japanese international bore down on goal he was grounded by Cristiano Piccini on the edge of the area. The referee awarded a free-kick and handed the Betis man his marching orders.
From the resulting free-kick, Pedro León unleashed a sumptuous curler which flew into the top corner beyond the dive of the powerless Antonio Adán.
Having taken the lead and with a numerical advantage, Eibar began to dominate and it wasn't long until they doubled their advantage. With 23 minutes on the clock, Enrich met an inviting Inui centre from the left flank to prod the ball home and put the Armeros firmly into the driving seat.
Now boasting a two-goal advantage, José Luis Mendilibar's men took the sting out of the game in the middle third, as they looked to build on their lead by exploiting their pace in wide areas.
Betis looked to find a way back into the game, however their efforts were stifled by some assured Eibar defending which prevented the Sevillians from creating any danger.
In the second half, Eibar looked the more likely scorers and the hosts almost made it 3-0 on 81' when Inui shot from point-blank range after being picked out by Antonio Luna's pull-back, only to see his effort denied by Adán's diving save.
Just two minutes later, Rubén Castro capitalised when he intercepted a back pass - in what was the only error of the night from the Eibar backline -, before firing the ball into the far corner.
Betis pushed hard in search of an equaliser, and although Mendilibar's charges were made to dig in, the visitors failed to carve out any goalscoring chances.
In injury-time, it was Eibar who broke away on the counter and Pedro León let fly with a powerful drive which Adán managed to palm onto the crossbar, only for the ball to rebound into Kike García's path, with the striker left to nod the ball home into the empty net to cap off his 27th birthday in the best possible fashion.
The goal was greeted with great joy by the Eibar players and supporters, with this result propelling the Armeros up into seventh and level on points with sixth-placed Atlético Madrid.