In what proved to be a half of relative domination by the home side, albeit one lacking a goal, they still could have easily gone in behind at the break. The first chance of the game arrived in the 12th minute, when a bad touch by Gabriel Paulista on the edge of his box almost let Finnbogason in for a golden opportunity. Fortunately for him, the Brazilian recovered just in time to put the striker off, but not without a few seconds of panic.
After that brief scare, Villarreal settled into a comfortable pattern in front of the home crowd. They generated chances through their customary vibrant attack, but couldn’t quite find the finishing touch to a move. Giovani Dos Santos passed up the half’s best chance when he failed to make contact with a perfectly executed cutback by Moi Gómez, from all of five yards out. His brother, Jonathan, was also off-cue just before the break when he skewed wide after some nice link-up play with Giovani.
The second half produced much more of the same, with Villarreal probing La Real's defence but struggling to get over that last hurdle. With a host of options on the substitutes bench for the home side, Marcelino showed his hand with half an hour to go, as Cheryshev and Bruno came on for Rukavina and Jonathan Dos Santos. Their impact proved to be almost immediate, as Bruno set up Cheryshev to edge the home side ahead in the 71st minute. Villarreal’s captain slotted the Russian winger in behind, while the Real Madrid loanee confidently slotted the ball past Zubikarai and into the bottom corner from a tight angle.
Cheryshev continued to attack Sociedad's left-hand side with pace and trickery; after racing in to the box, he drilled a delightful ball across the penalty area. Despite several Villarreal players swarming the box, none were able to get a touch and the chance went amiss.
Villarreal now turn their attention to Malaga and a trip to La Rosaleda before travelling to the Anoeta to play the second leg of this Copa Del Rey tie.
For David Moyes and Sociedad, they travel to 19th placed Granada, as they hope to steadily climb the table. The Scotsman will then have another opportunity to beat what appears to be his bogey-team - with Villarreal winning two out of two against La Real - when they visit San Sebastian in the second leg of their Copa Del Rey round of 16 tie.
Cheryshev's composure in front of goal ended up separating the two sides in what was a surprisingly one-sided affair. Moyes’ Real Sociedad outfit rarely troubled the home side, and deservedly left El Madrigal with nothing to show for it.