Jose Carlos Nunes struck a late winner as Real Mallorca continued their perfect home record.

Mallorca had won all their previous nine league matches at the Ono Estadi this season but they looked set to drop their first points until captain Nunes popped up nine minutes from time to head home the only goal of the game.

The victory means Gregorio Manzano's men moved back to within five points of third-placed Valencia and was the ideal response to last weekend's shock 2-1 defeat at bottom club Xerez.

For Villarreal, it was a disappointing debut in the hotseat for Garrido, the former reserve team coach who took over the reins following last weekend's sacking of Ernesto Valverde.

More worryingly for the Yellow Submarine though, the defeat leaves them further adrift of the Champions League spots.

Villarreal, who started the day 10 points behind fourth-placed Sevilla and eight away from Mallorca, found themselves under pressure early on and home striker Aritz Aduriz later went close with an acrobatic overhead kick after Diego Godin had miscued an attempted clearance.

Moments after that effort, though, Villarreal had a great chance to take the lead when Joseba Llorente broke clean through on goal.

But while Llorente did well to get a shot away as two defenders converged on him, Mallorca goalkeeper Dudu Aouate was able to save with his feet.

Godin then headed Marcos Senna's corner wide when perhaps he should have done better, before Villarreal twice went close just before the break.

Robert Pires' initial shot was blocked, but the ball rebounded to him and his pass inside gave Llorente what looked set to be a tap-in for the game's opening goal, especially with Aouate out of his net.

However, a Mallorca defender managed to get in the way of Llorente's shot and the game remained scoreless at the interval.

The second half saw Villarreal create another gilt-edged chance in the 55th minute, with Llorente again the man with the opportunity.

He once more got in behind the Mallorca defence but was again denied by Aouate, with the Villarreal number nine seeing his shot half-blocked by the home custodian before agonisingly bouncing up and landing on the roof of the net.

That would be the last decent chance the visitors would get in the match, and they ended up paying for their profligacy as Mallorca claimed the spoils in the final 10 minutes.

Julio Alvarez's deep free-kick towards the far post was perfect for Nunes, who climbed above his marker to guide a header past Diego Lopez to clinch the game for the hosts.

That goal secured Mallorca a 10th win out of 10 at home and continued their hugely impressive campaign near the top of the Primera Division standings.

The Balearic Islanders will find that perfect home record put to the test in the coming weeks though as four of the next five teams to visit the Ono Estadi are La Liga superpowers Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.