RCD Espanyol extended their unbeaten home record in LaLiga to 10 matches (W4, D6) following a 1-0 victory over Getafe, who have now failed to win any of their last eight away league meetings with the Barcelona-based club.

With the season entering its final stretch, both teams find themselves very much in with the possibility of seeing their seasons go either way, with both the European and relegation places realistically not out of the equation at this stage.

With this in mind, these two evenly matched teams looked set to deliver an entertaining affair, however, the first half lacked real quality from an attacking perspective.

It took until the 34th minute for the first opportunity of note to arrive when a ball to the far post found Ramon Terrats, and the midfielder took a touch before sending an effort goalwards that might have snuck into the top right-hand corner of the net but for a sharp reaction save from Joan Garcia, who tipped it over the crossbar.

A first-half goal looked rather unlikely, but six minutes before half-time, the hosts went ahead when a corner wasn’t cleared by the visitors.

Allowing the ball to find its way to Marash Kumbulla, the defender showed the finishing instincts of a striker to stick a leg out and direct it powerfully past David Soria into the net to ensure the Parakeets led at the interval.

Keen to respond to the setback they suffered late in the first half, Getafe came agonisingly close to drawing level five minutes after the restart.

A long throw into the area was headed on by Alvaro Rodriguez and into the path of the onrushing Mauro Arambarri, who directed his first-time header towards the top left-hand corner but saw it saved by the alert Garcia.

Having seen this opportunity pass them by, the visitors’ task got all the harder on the hour mark when Christantus Uche, having originally been booked, was shown a straight red card after Ricardo de Burgos consulted the pitchside monitor.

Now very much in a position of strength, the home side almost doubled their lead just two minutes later when Exposito’s free-kick from 25 yards, which was heading for the top left-hand corner, was tipped away after impressive work from Soria.

While things could have been more straightforward for Espanyol, they eventually did enough to get over the line and claim a crucial three points in their bid to avoid an immediate return to the Segunda division. The Parakeets now have a nine-point buffer to the relegation zone, while Getafe remain a point and a place higher in 11th.