Second half goals from Dani Parejo and midweek hero Santi Mina moved Valencia to one point from the top 10 in La Liga, as they defeated Granada 2-1 to secure their third consecutive win.
Andres Fernandez keeps the game goalless
In the first half, Granada could have easily scored a couple of goals, but poor finishing meant they didn’t. Their first chance came early on when Fran Rico was in acres of space on the edge of the Valencia box, but the midfield man could only drag his shot wide of the post.
Valencia’s first chance didn't come until the 20th minute when Sofiane Feghouli found Paco Alcacer with a wonderful pass, but the Spanish strikers shot was deflected over the cross bar.
Just before the half hour mark, Adalberto Penaranda found himself in a similar position to Rico, but the young Venezuelan’s finish matched his team mates.
Moments later, a quick freekick from Dani Parejo saw Alcacer through once again, but this time his shot was saved well by Granada goalkeeper Andres Fernandez.
The best chance of the half came a few minutes before the half time interval when a brilliant cross from Joao Cancelo was met at the back post by Andre Gomes, but his header was wonderfully saved by Fernandez.
Valencia secure all three points in Granada
Early on in the second half Granada had a chance to take the lead when Ruben Rochina tried to place a free-kick into the bottom corner, but Diego Alves was equal to the strike, parrying it away.
A few minutes later, Alcacer set up Parejo who finished beautifully into the bottom corner. The move was set up after Andre Gomes ran 35 yards before finding the Valencia captain.
David Barral then had a glorious chance to equalise from five yards out, after a cross from Isaac Success, but the Spanish striker could only hit the cross bar. Substitute Youssef El-Arabi then headed wide from the edge of the six yard box following another Success cross.
The game then died down for 15 minutes until a quick one-two between Success and El-Arabi saw the latter’s strike blocked miraculously by Aderlan Santos.
Into the first minute of added time, Europa League hero Santi Mina sealed the deal for Los Che after Fernandez could only parry Paco Alcacer’s attempted chip shot.
It was too little too late when the home side finally put the ball into the back of the net, after a wonderful cross from Rochina was headed beyond Alves by Edgar Mendez.
That was all she wrote in Granada with Valencia winning 2-1 and Gary Neville’s side securing back to back La Liga victories under his management for the first time. The loss leaves Jose Ramon Sandoval’s team rooted to the bottom of the table.
And for Los Che, they move up to eleventh, one point off the top ten and their next La Liga match is against Athletic Bilbao at Estadio Mestalla. Granada’s next match is against Deportivo La Coruna at Estadio Riazor.