Soccer-Betis coach Nogues rues bad luck after relegation

By Iain Rogers

MADRID, May 31 (Reuters) - Real Betis coach Jose Maria Nogues was left rueing the "caprices of fate" after his side were relegated on the final day of the Primera Liga season on Sunday.

The coaches of Osasuna, Sporting Gijon, Getafe and Real Valladolid, by contrast, were thanking the gods after they narrowly avoided the drop to the second division.

"It was a very sad day as once again football has been very unjust to us," Nogues, promoted from the reserve team after Paco Chaparro was sacked last month, told a news conference.

"Nobody really thought it would happen that we wouldn't win today and I really think we deserved to," he added after the 1-1 home draw with Valladolid.

"We worked, we pushed, we ran and we fought but it wasn't enough. Fate has been capricious with us."

Getafe finished level on 42 points with Betis but stayed up thanks to a superior goal difference and coach Michel said the players deserved it for all their hard work.

"I am more than happy, euphoric even," he said. "Our nerves were shredded in the last half hour because we were teetering on the brink."

Sporting coach Manuel Preciado said the brush with relegation had been "agonising" and it had felt like the 2-1 comeback win over already-relegated Recreativo Huelva had lasted seven days.