Midfielder Fernando Soriano continued his recent goalscoring form by firing Almeria to victory over Malaga.

Having only netted twice in his first 19 league appearances this season and rarely been a regular scorer throughout his career, Soriano has now struck three times in five games and his 56th-minute effort today helped Almeria take another step towards Primera Division survival.

Almeria, who have now won five of 11 matches and lost just once since coach Juan Manuel Lillo replaced Hugo Sanchez just before Christmas, provisionally climbed up to 10th with this win, staying 10 points above the relegation zone.

Malaga, however, are now only four points above the bottom three after failing to improve their poor record against fellow Andalusian sides this season.

Of their five meetings against fellow local sides - Xerez (twice), Almeria (twice) and Sevilla - Malaga have now only picked up two points.

Last weekend Malaga suffered a shock 4-2 home defeat to a rock-bottom Xerez side that had never before won an away match in the Primera Division, and Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz's men would have been desperate for better today.

However, neither side will have been overly pleased with their performances before the break as respective goalkeepers Diego Alves and Gustavo Munua barely had to break sweat.

One of the few scares either side had came in the Almeria area when Malaga substitute Manolo Gaspar's overhead kick was almost poked in by Jesus Gamez, but the ball drifted wide of the post.

The second half was a similarly tight affair, although it was Almeria celebrating at the end after getting their noses in front just 11 minutes after the re-start and then holding onto that advantage.

The goal came following a short bout of head tennis, with Soriano climbing above his marker on the far side of the area to nod inside to team-mate Santiago Acasiete, who headed the ball twice to knock it back into the path of Soriano, who slid in to guide the ball past Munua.

That was Soriano's second strike of the season against Malaga, having also netted in his side`s 2-1 win at La Rosaleda back in October, and it proved to be the match-winner.

Malaga, without key playmaker Duda though suspension, tried to hit back quickly and they had two openings in rapid succession around the hour-mark.

However, Javi Lopez`s effort was saved by Alves before Fernando Fernandez sliced a shot wide of the near post.

At the other end Pablo Piatti brought a save out of Munua as Almeria sought a second goal to kill the game off.

The home side looked to have made their second breakthrough when Albert Crusat fed Henok Goitom and the Swedish striker's powerful strike beat Munua.

The shot did not dip enough, however, and ended up coming back off the crossbar, although by then the offside flag had gone up.

Almeria had still done enough to take the points, though, and they are looking well on course to avoid the drop.