Payne on target as Rayo Vallecano edge Sevilla in five-goal thriller

Toni Payne found the back of the net but her late effort could not save Sevilla from a 3-2 away defeat to Rayo Vallecano in Saturday's Spanish Primera Iberdrola encounter.

The Nigeria international bagged her 24th start for Sevilla and she made a tangible contribution even though their side lost at Rayo.

Prior to the contest, Sevilla had bounced back from a four-match winless run to a shock 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid but they could not replicate their fine performance against Carlos Santiso's side.

The visitors got off to a flying start as Claudia Pina converted from the spot to hand them an early goal after just two minutes of action.

However, Santiso's ladies were also gifted their own penalty and Paula Fernandez fired home to level matters 10 minutes later.

With the score 1-1 heading into the half-time break, the hosts found a breakthrough to gain a late lead when Teresa Morato struck deep inside injury time off a fantastic assist from Patricia Hidalgo.

After the restart, Rayo kept their nerves to defend their narrow lead until Sheila Garcia compounded the visitors' woes when she struck a third of the match in the 78th minute.

However, the visitors fought late for a comeback when Noelia Ramos set up Payne to pull one back seven minutes from time but her late effort was not enough to rescue her side from defeat.

Namibia's Payne, who turned 26 on Friday, featured for the duration for Sevilla and she has now grabbed her fourth goal of the season plus four assists in 27 appearances.

Her teammate and Namibia international Zenatha Coleman was in action from the start to finish on her 24th game.

Despite the loss, Sevilla remain in eighth position, with 36 points from 27 games, and will visit Levante in their next tie on May 2.