Levante 0-0 Sporting Gijon: Sporting move step closer to safety after draw

Sporting Gijon took a step closer to safety with a battling 0-0 draw against fellow Primera Division strugglers Levante, who failed to make home advantage count at the Ciutat de Valencia.

Sporting climbed above Getafe into 18th on goal difference and sit just a point below Granada who occupy 17th place in the table and the last spot above the relegation zone.

To add to bottom side Levante's misery, defender Zouhair Feddal received a second yellow card after the final whistle.

Levante had plenty of chances to break the deadlock, their best chance falling late in the second period to Victor, whose shot hit the bar.

Gijon went closest to scoring towards the end of the first period when a shot from Pablo Perez hit the post.

Levante forced the first chance after five minutes but Roberto Camarasa fired over.

Sporting Gijon hit back and began to dominate, Perez seeing his shot blocked before Antonio Sanabria headed narrowly wide. Jony's free-kick was then saved by home keeper Diego Marino.

Levante's Deyverson twice failed to break the deadlock with headers and then Jose Luis Morales and Jose Antonio Verza forced saves out of visiting keeper Ivan Cuellar.

The visitors went closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half as a shot by Perez came back off the post with Marino beaten.

Levante started the second half strongly and Giuseppe Rossi failed to really test Cuellar with a weak shot before Morales curled a shot from the edge of the area just past the post.

Rossi should have done better when a Cuellar save presented him with with the ball but he scooped it over from 12 yards.

With 12 minutes to go Victor saw his rising shot hit the bar following a low cross from the right by fellow substitute Mauricio Cuero but Levante were forced to settle for a point.