The veteran striker's 81st minute effort gave the Catalans their first league win in four games and leaves the player one goal short of equalling Rafael Maranon's record of 111 goals in Espanyol's colours.

Chasing a place in the UEFA Cup, Recre began brightly and Espanyol goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz was forced to make two timely interventions to deny French forward Florent Sinama-Pongolle in the opening minutes.

At the other end, French goalkeeper Bertrand Laquait also had to be alert to dispossess Tamudo as Espanyol pushed forward after nine minutes.

Ten minutes later, winger Albert Riera almost put Tamudo through again, but Beto cleared at full-stretch.

Recre were seeing a lot of the ball early on, but were struggling to break down the visitors' disciplined defensive line and resorted to shooting from outside the area.

Cesar Arzo and Santi Cazorla tried their luck from distance, but were both well off target.

Espanyol, with Ivan De La Pena and Luis Garcia left on the bench to accommodate youngsters Julian Lopez and Angel, were also struggling to create chances and had to wait until the 35th minute for their first meaningful opportunity.

Young forward Ferran Corominas picked up the ball from Daniel Jarque and fired a powerful shot from towards goal from outside the area, but saw his effort pushed around the post by Laquait.

It was the most exciting moment of a disappointing first half and the teams went in on level terms at the break.

Recreativo started the second half strongly and Nigerian striker Ikechukwu Uche tested Gorka with a stinging drive after 47 minutes.

Four minutes later, the African popped up again inside the Espanyol area, but shot well wide from just 12 yards out.

Luis Garcia came on for Julian Lopez, but Recreativo continued to dominate and Javi Guerrero forced Gorka into a fine reaction save with a powerful low drive on 64 minutes.

De La Pena then replaced Angel and Espanyol improved immediately.

The visitors began to enjoy more possession in midfield and found themselves a man up when Recreativo defender Juan Merino was sent off on 75 minutes for holding back Riera, who would have been clean through on goal.

Espanyol coach Ernesto Valverde immediately introduced another attacker, Moroccan midfielder Moha, for Argentinian full-back Pablo Zabalata, as the Catalans sensed a late victory.

The substitution proved inspired as Moha started the move which led to Espanyol's winner after 81 minutes.

The Moroccan crossed dangerously from the left flank and although Recreativo cleared, Luis Garcia found the unmarked Tamudo with an exquisite cross-field pass and the Espanyol captain fired instinctively past Laquait to move one goal closer to Maranon's record.

The Catalans held on for a morale-boosting victory which will help to erase memories of last week's UEFA Cup final defeat against Sevilla and humiliating 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Getafe.

Neither of these sides can now qualify for the UEFA Cup through the league, although Espanyol may yet be invited back to Europe as losing UEFA finalists, given that Cup winners Sevilla have qualified for the Champions League.