Valencia missed the chance to return to the top of the Primera Liga on Saturday, suffering a shock 3-2 defeat to Sporting Gijon at the Mestalla.

Goals from Luis Moran, David Barral and Diego Castro guided Manolo Preciado's men to their biggest scalp of the season so far, although they had to survive a late scare when Juan Mata set up a frantic finish with a strike in the dying moments, adding to David Villa's earlier penalty for Los Che.

The result sees Valencia stay in third place in the standings, while Sporting Gijon climb to seventh.

The Asturians took the lead with the first real chance of the game after 20 minutes as Moran showed great composure to take a lobbed through ball in his stride and slot past Renan Brito.

The lead was almost short-lived with the Mestalla crowd appealing for a penalty within seconds of the restart as Villa went down in the box under a sliding challenge from Roberto Canella, but referee Jose Luis Romero judged that the defender made contact with the ball.

However, Valencia generally found it difficult to carve out chances from open play and it was Sporting who continued to create the better openings.

Barral hit Valencia defender Raul Albiol with a shot when well placed just before the half-hour mark and Neru headed inches over the bar from the subsequent corner as the visitors pushed for a second.

The game really started to open up as half-time approached and Joaquin missed a great chance to equalise when he headed straight at Ivan Cuellar from Miguel's searching cross, while Moran missed a chance to double the visitors' advantage when he struck a post at the other end.

It was Barral who eventually put Sporting firmly in control with a second goal six minutes after the interval.

The striker picked up possession inside the box and dazzled Emiliano Moretti with a succession of step-overs before rifling a shot past Renan at his near post, although both goalkeeper and defender will have been disappointed with their lack of intervention.

Valencia were thrown a lifeline after 69 minutes when a cross struck the arm of Barral inside the six-yard box and Villa stepped up against his former club to dispatch the spot kick, sending Cuellar the wrong way.

Los Che huffed and puffed in their attempts to grab an equaliser but never really looked like scoring and it was no great surprise when Castro restored the two-goal cushion with 10 minutes remaining.

The midfielder picked up a long clearance on the edge of the box and showed great technique to keep the ball alive under close attention from Albiol and fire an acrobatic volley across Renan from eight yards.

Edu and Albiol brought fine saves out of Cuellar in the closing stages before Mata gave the hosts their late chink of light with a neat finish as the board went up for injury time.

Los Che then threw everything forward and substitute Fernando Morientes forced Cuellar into one last-ditch save but Sporting were not to be denied a well-deserved three points.