Athletic Bilbao 1 - 2 Sporting Gijon

Sporting Gijon continue fine form

Updated: October 18, 2009, 9:12 PM UK

Miguel De Las Cuevas struck twice as Sporting Gijon continued their fine early-season form with an impressive 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao in a northern derby in the seventh round of La Liga.

Sporting made a miserable start to the season on their return to the top-flight last term, losing their first five games.

But Manuel Preciado's side stayed up and their aim was to get off to a better start this time around.

And although they began with a 3-0 defeat at Barcelona on the opening weekend, the northerners have been in decent form since then.

Since winning all of their first three matches this season, Joaquin Caparros' side have been very disappointing, picking up just a single point from their next three clashes.

Nevertheless, they were expected to win this one at San Mames.

The first half was one of few chances for either side as most of the play took place in an absorbing midfield battle.

Both teams were fighting for every ball, but there was little quality in the final third at either end of the pitch.

The best opportunity of the first period fell to Athletic, when Mikael Susaeta found Gaizka Toquero with a pinpoint cross, but the striker head harmlessly over the bar when he should have at least hit the target.

Oscar De Marcos also tried his luck on a couple of occasions for the home side, but failed to trouble Sporting keeper Juan Pablo Colinas.

Things changed dramatically as the second half got underway.

Sporting almost scored with two minutes of the restart, but Diego Castro shot just wide.

At the other end, Athletic then missed a great opportunity themselves, when Xabi Etxeita failed to make contact from close-range with the goal at his mercy following a melee in the Sporting area.

The first goal was going to be crucial and it fell to the visitors following a moment of inspiration after 65 minutes.

De Las Cuevas produced that moment of brilliance as he fired a superb free-kick past Gorka Iraizoz to give the visitors a precious lead.

And the former Atletico Madrid midfielder made it two 12 minutes later following a quick counter-attack.

The player was cleverly set up by Carmelo Gonzalez and beat Iraizoz with a neat finish inside the area to put Sporting in control.

But it was not over yet and there were some nervous moments for the visitors after Toquero headed in from close-range after 81 minutes to set up a tense finale.

Sporting defended stoutly, though, and held on for a win which sees them move up to seventh place, while Athletic drop to 10th.