Half-line shot gives Sociedad late win

BARCELONA, Spain (AP):

Real Sociedad defender Inigo Martinez scored a spectacular long-range goal without even leaving his own half yesterday to give his team a 3-2 win at Real Betis in the Spanish league.

With 90 minutes completed, the game looked to be headed for a draw, but Martinez took possession, pushed forward and caught Betis goalkeeper Casto Espinosa off his line with a perfectly placed left-footed lob from just inside his own half.

"It was an amazing shot," said Sociedad coach Philippe Montanier, who added that Martinez regu-larly practices his long-distance shooting.

"(Espinosa) is a good goalkeeper, but we knew that he tends to play far off his line," Montanier said.

Martinez, who has three goals this season, scored a similar goal from the halfway line in a 2-1 loss to Athletic Bilbao in the sixth round.

The victory ended Sociedad's eight-game winless run and lifted them out of the relegation zone.

After a scoreless first half that saw Antoine Griezmann miss a penalty kick for the Basque visitors, the game came alive in Seville. Sociedad took control through striker Imanol Agirretxe's 56th-minute header and Carlos Vela's goal in the 76th.

Substitute forward Jonathan Pereira went on for Betis and netted a pair of goals in the 81st and 85th to apparently salvage a point for his team, only to see Martinez's precise shot float over Espinosa and land in the back of the net.

Cruel ending

"The ending to the game was just cruel," said Betis coach Pepe Mel, whose team has lost eight of the last nine matches after a strong start to the season.

Elsewhere yesterday, Levante rediscovered their winning form to thrash Sporting Gijon 4-0 and end a three-game losing streak. Levante stayed in fourth place, one point behind Valencia, with the first victory since their memorable start to the season took the team to the top of the league for the first time in their history.

Also, Spain striker Alvaro Negredo converted a first-half penalty to give Sevilla a 1-0 win at bottom-table Zaragoza and lift them to within five points of the Champions League positions.

Granada dealt Athletic Bilbao the first loss in their last 12 games in all competitions through a 1-0 win at San Mames stadium, thanks to defender Inigo Lopez's first-half header.

Ten-man Mallorca beat last-place Racing Santander 2-1 for their first win under coach Joaquin Caparros since replacing Michael Laudrup.

Osasuna also played a man down in the final 15 minutes as they held on to win 2-1 at Espanyol for their first away victory of the season, lifting them into the upper half of the table.

Malaga host Villarreal today to close round 13.