Valencia drops points against Santander

Valencia's disappointing league form in 2012 continued on Sunday as they conceded a late equaliser to draw 2-2 at lowly Racing Santander. Fourth-bottom Racing took a shock lead inside the opening two minutes through Adrian Gonzalez but Valencia hit back to go ahead with a second-half brace from substitute Aritz Aduriz. Los Che could not hold onto their advantage, though, as Bernardo Espinosa drew the home side level in the 88th minute before both teams finished with 10 men as Racing veteran Pedro Munitis and Valencia defender Ricardo Costa were handed their marching orders in stoppage time. The result means third-placed Valencia have now picked up only three points from a possible 12 since the start of the year and have fallen 16 points adrift of leaders Real Madrid. Unai Emery's side have done better in the cup and they completed a 7-1 aggregate quarter-final mauling of Levante with a 3-0 second-leg win on Thursday, but they were unable to build on that with another victory on Sunday after suffering a dismal start at El Sardinero. With barely a minute on the clock Munitis sent a cross over from the left and Adrian slotted home left-footed from close range to open the scoring. It was very nearly 2-0 in the 17th minute when Christian Stuani headed against the post as Racing enjoyed the better of the early exchanges. Valencia gradually eased their way back into the contest, though, and Jonas Oliveira was denied in the 35th minute by a combination of Racing goalkeeper Antonio Tono and the crossbar. The visitors were still trailing heading into the final half-hour, however, and Emery decided to throw Aduriz into the action in the 63rd minute as a replacement for Jonas - and the switch paid handsome dividends. Within three minutes of his arrival Aduriz had Valencia back on level terms as fired in from Tino Costa's outswinging corner. The Spain cap then put his side ahead 13 minutes later with a header after Tono had parried Ricardo Costa's 20-yard effort. Despite that goal arriving in the 79th minute, it was not enough to earn Valencia a win, as Racing salvaged a point when Espinosa headed in Jairo's cross. Soon after that Munitis and Costa were dismissed following a tussle but there was not enough time left for either side to make the most of the extra space and net a winner, although Valencia were indebted to a save from Diego Alves right at the death to deny Gonzalo Colsa and avoid defeat.