Athletic Bilbao came from a goal down to salvage a point and continuetheir recent resurgence with a 1-1 draw at Recreativo Huelva.Theopening hour of play was tense, but the game sprang to life in theclosing stages and Javi Guerrero gave Recreativo the lead after 71minutes.
But Athletic hit back just four minutes later throughDavid Lopez and held on for a valuable point to extend their unbeatenrun to three games.
Joaquin Caparros was taking charge of his49th match as Athletic coach and named an unchanged line-up for thefirst time since his arrival at San Mames.
The former Deportivo La Coruna coach decided to keep faith with the 11 players who beat Real Valladolid on Sunday.
And it seemed a wise decision as Athletic shaded a poor quality first half.
The Basques looked solid at the back and restricted Recre to speculative long-range efforts.
They also had the best two chances of the first period.
Thefirst came after 22 minutes in a typical Athletic move, whichculminated with Fernando Llorente's bullet header flying inches overthe bar.
The second real opportunity came after a flowingbreakaway move and Recre's Basque keeper Asier Riesgo got down well topush away Ion Velez's low shot.
Recre, on the other hand, had failed to create a single chance of note and were jeered off at the break.
After the interval, Athletic continued to look the better side and Javi Martinez drove just wide from distance.
Despitetheir superiority, though, the visitors did not really look likescoring either and the game appeared to be heading predictably towardsa dire goalless draw.
But Recre almost took the lead after 63 minutes.
Guerrerorose in the area and crashed a powerful header towards goal, butAthletic keeper Gorka Iraizoz was equal to it as he produced a stunningreaction save to keep his side level.
That soon changed, however,as Guerrero took advantage of some poor marking and beat Gorka with acool, left-footed finish after 71 minutes.
Now chasing the game, Caparros decided to throw on veteran forward Joseba Etxeberria.
And the Athletic captain seemed to inspire the visitors.
Theyequalised three minutes later, albeit thanks to an element of luck asDavid Lopez's attempted cross surprised Riesgo and flew into the farcorner.
But it was no more than Athletic deserved after dominating much of the encounter.
Bothsides seemed happy to settle for a point as the minutes ticked away,but Recre almost won all three with an Adrian Colunga drive in theclosing stages.
But Gorka saved the day once again and Athleticheld on to win a valuable point, which sees them move into the top halfof the table.
Recre, meanwhile, lie in 14th, just two points clear of the drop zone.
