Almeria 1-4 Levante

David Barral scored a hat-trick as Levante thrashed fellow strugglers Almeria 4-1 away from home to move five points above the relegation zone.Barral opened the scoring after 17 minutes and then, after his strike partner Victor Casadesus doubled the lead, notched his second to make it 3-0 eight minutes after the break.Almeria defender Sebastian Dubarbier was then sent off for picking up a second booking but Tomer Hemed gave the hosts brief hope when he scored from the penalty spot. However, Barral soon killed off any chance of a fightback by completing his treble.Almeria coach Juan Ignacio Martinez said before the game that a win would give his side ``oxygen'' in their fight for survival but his players must feel suffocated after this demoralising home defeat.They fell behind to a well-worked move by the visitors, which originated from a marauding run on the left flank by Tono. The full-back brought the ball forward and then laid off possession for Andreas Ivanschitz to cut back into the six-yard box, where Barral was waiting to poke the ball home.Thievy Bifouma had a chance to level when Diego Marino parried a long-range shot into his path, but the Levante goalkeeper reacted quickly to make a double save.Barral came close to scoring a second from a header but just missed the target, and instead provided the cross for Casadesus to double Levante's lead with a header, after Almeria goalkeeper Julian Cuesta had given the ball away.Levante did not let up in the second half and Barral got his second goal by squeezing the ball into the net from a tight angle after a fine piece of control by Ivanschitz.Things got even worse for Almeria as Dubarbier was given a second yellow for a late tackle from behind, although the 10 men were awarded a penalty when Thievy was felled by Loukas Vyntra in the area, and Hemed sent Marino the wrong way to score.But neither Levante nor Barral were finished yet, and with 15 minutes remaining the visitors added a fourth goal.Casadesus raced free towards goal as Almeria were again woefully exposed on the counter and he squared for Barral to score again and complete his second hat-trick of the season.ends