Villarreal have moved within five points of third-placed Real Madrid in La Liga courtesy of a late 1-0 win over Elche.

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The visitors enjoyed the first chance of the match when Giovani dos Santos found Hernan Perez outside the box, only for the Paraguayan midfielder to drill his low shot wide.

Elche came within inches of taking the lead shortly before the half-hour mark as Fidel beat two men before sending a cross towards Manu del Moral in the middle, but the Spanish striker's header rattled the top of the crossbar.

Perez had another good chance for Villarreal five minutes before half time, but he fired his effort straight into the arms of Manu Herrera having been set up by Dos Santos once more.

Herrera was forced into action again with 20 minutes left of the match, this time making a fine stop to deny Bruno from close range.

The Elche keeper could do nothing about the winner, however, as Jonathan Pereira's scuffed shot fell to Ikechukwu Uche, who made no mistake with his finish from close range in the 90th minute.