Valencia (Spain), Feb 26 (IANS): Valencia battled Real Sociedad to a 2-1 victory, although the latter squad was considerably better than the home team during many stretches of the match.

It was Valencia's third consecutive win on Sunday, reports Efe.

Santi Mina got the home team on the board in the 34th minute on a header, after a nice pass by Martin Montoya, and the game was 1-0 at the half, but Mikel Oyarzabal came back to notch the equaliser in the 53rd minute, discombobulating Valencia for a time.

It was Mina again, however, 14 minutes later who scored what proved to be the winning goal after Real Sociedad's goaltender, Toño Ramirez, was unable to stop a low crossing shot by Rodrigo into the area.

Mina is Valencia's top scorer with 11 tallies so far this season.

Valencia is now eight points in front of No. 5-ranked Villarreal, which blanked Getafe 1-0 earlier in the day, but two points behind third-place Real Madrid and six points in back of Atletico Madrid.

Barcelona leads the Spanish First Division table, 10 points ahead of Atletico.

After the loss at Mestalla Stadium before some 37,000 spectators, Real Sociedad is now in 14th place.