Willian Jose and Ayoze Pérez struck either side of half-time as we reduced to 10-men and fell to a frustrating 2-0 defeat against Real Betis.  

Boss Javier Aguirre opted to start Cyle Larin up front in partnership withVedat Muriqi after he opened his account for the club last week. 

We could not have got off to a worse start as Willian Jose poked home from close range in the seventh minute. 

Perez came close to doubling the hosts’ lead in the 27^th minute, although his effort thankfully dragged wide of the near post. 

Antonio Sánchez had out first sight of goal a minute later, although the midfielder’s effort was well saved. 

Muriqi levelled matters in the 30^th minute with a powerful header, although his goal was ruled offside by a VAR review. 

Omar Mascarell received his marching orders for a second bookable offence on the stroke of half-time as we headed into the break a goal down and reduced to 10-men.

Larin produced some goalline heroics to avoid the hosts taking a lead when he deflected a shot during a goal-mouth scramble shortly after the restart.

Perez struck in the 65^th minute when he stroked home a flicked-on ball to give Real Betis a two-goal advantage.

Isco and Ez Abde came close to adding a third, but we remained resilient with our numerical disadvantage and headed back to the island with a tough defeat.