San Sebastian, Feb 10: Real Sociedad saw their lead at the top of the Spanish first division cut to just two points as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by a determined and organised Espanyol. Sociedad, who lost their unbeaten record last week when they slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao, pushed forward in the opening minutes of their match at Anoeta on Sunday (February 9), but were never allowed to settle on the ball by a hard-working Espanyol. Without the pace of suspended Turkish forward Nihat Kahveci and the passing skills of injured winger Javi de Pedro, Raynald Denoueix's side found it difficult to break down the dogged Espanyol defence. Russian forward Dimitri Khokhlov had a couple of half chances early on and sent a glancing header just over the bar on eight minutes, but Sociedad were largely frozen out of it for the rest of the first half. They had more chances after the break but with leading scorer Darko Kovacevic having an off day they hardly deserved more than a draw against Javier Clemente's battling outfit, who have now lost just once in their last seven outings.


Bureau Report