Ebert inspires Valladolid victory

Patrick Ebert inspired Valladolid with two goals and an assist as they claimed their first win in five games by beating Mallorca 3-1.

Patrick Ebert inspired Valladolid with two goals and an assist as they claimed their first win in five games by beating Mallorca 3-1. The German fired the hosts into the lead with a wonderful strike from 20 yards after 21 minutes but Mallorca were level before half-time as Victor rose to head home Javier Arizmendi's cross 16 minutes later. Both sides then had their chances to win the game but Ebert proved the difference in the dying minutes as Oscar Gonzalez turned home his cross three minutes from time and the former Hertha Berlin man then rounded off his afternoon as he was sent through on goal and jinked past Dudu Aouate before slotting into an empty net. Both Ebert and Oscar had missed La Pucela's disappointing 3-1 defeat to Celta Vigo last weekend through injury and suspension respectively, but Miroslav Djukic's men were transformed with their two best players back in the side and started extremely brightly. Ebert had a free-kick well saved by Aouate but Marc Valiente should have done better as he fired the rebound over. Victor then had a penalty appeal waved away at the other end before Aouate denied Ebert again as this time the Israeli got an outstretched hand to the Valladolid midfielder's clever chip. There was nothing the Mallorca goalkeeper could do about Ebert's next effort though as he lined up a drive from outside the area and saw it rocket high into Aoaute's top right-hand corner. The visitors were level with virtually their first coherent move of the game as Arizmendi won the ball inside the Valladolid half and got to the by-line before dinking a perfect ball to the back post for Victor to power home his sixth goal of the season. Mallorca could even have been in front just after the break as Giovani Dos Santos' wickedly dipping effort rattled back off the crossbar and Arizmendi also came close to putting his side in front with just 14 minutes remaining as he got the break of the ball inside the area but saw his goalbound effort blocked to safety by Henrique Sereno. And that clearance was to prove crucial as 10 minutes later a wonderful raking pass from Ebert over the top of the Mallorca defence was subtly knocked past Aouate from close range by Oscar. Even then Mallorca were unlucky not to find a second equaliser as Emilio Nsue was adjudged to be just offside as he slotted home in injury time and, with the visitors' defence having moved forward in search of a late goal, Ebert took advantage of the space in behind as he raced Alberto Bueno's pass and turned Aoaute one way and then the other before stroking the ball home.