Gary Neville's Side Make It Three On The Spin

Gary Neville completed a perfect week as Valencia manager with his third straight win thanks to a narrow victory over Granada. Daniel Parejo the midfielder Neville stripped of the captaincy last month got the first. He dominated midfield for the visitors in the first half and he finished well when Paco Alcacer laid off Andre Gomes’ cross. Substitute Santi Mina added a second meaning Edgar's goal with the last attack of the game counted for nothing.

Valencia beat Espanyol last weekend and then hit Rapid Vienna for six in midweek. They were not on quite such good form here but they did enough to win the game. Their first chance came on 19 minutes when Sofiane Feghouli’s early ball sent captain Alcacer clear and he saw his shot deflected over Andres Fernandez’ Granada goal. As a spectacle the game was slow and very stop-start but Neville’s team clearly had the greater quality and it almost allowed them to break the deadlock when a well-worked free-kick between Parejo and Alcacer saw the Spain striker draw a fine save from Fernandez.

The goal finally came on 54 minutes and it was Parejo who scored it. The former QPR midfielder had been booked early in the game and had come dangerously close – with several innocuous fouls – to seeing red. Neville may even have considered taking him off but leaving him on the pitch paid dividends when he fired home from Alcacer’s cushioned assist. Granada should have equalised with their next attack but from five yards out David Barral leaned back and hit the crossbar. It was his last contribution of the game but his replacement Youssef El Arabi inexplicably headed the wrong side of the post from Migel Lopes’ cross. It was difficult to judge which had been the worst miss.

Valencia scored again in the last minute when Santi Mina scored his third league goal and his third goal in a week. Alcacer raced clear but could not lob Fernandez and when the ball ran to the 20-year-old he hit the back of the empty net to make it 2-0. Finally Granada scored when substitute Edgar leaped highest at the far post to head past Diego Alves. But it was too little to late to stop Valencia completing a perfect week – three wins out of three for Neville.