Tomer Hemed's brace made it three consecutive wins for new Almeria boss Juan Ignacio Martinez as they beat high-flying Malaga 2-1 at La Rosaleda Stadium.
Hemed opened the scoring five minutes before half time with an opportunist strike and he made sure of the win from the penalty spot in the second half, minutes after Samuel Garcia struck back for Malaga.
Martinez's tenure began with a heavy defeat to Real Madrid in December, but since then they have beaten Real Betis in the Copa Del Rey, squeezed past Celta Vigo 1-0 and now impressively ended Malaga's four-game winning run.
The victory takes them three points clear of the drop zone, while the hosts remain seventh having missed the chance to leapfrog Villarreal and Valencia.
As expected Los Boquerones, who had only suffered league defeats to Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid since October, started the brighter.
Almeria goalkeeper Julian Cuesta did brilliantly to block Sergi Darder's effort from the edge of the area in the 10th minute and then Juanmi missed the target following good work from Nordin Amrabat.
After weathering that early storm Almeria began to grow in stature, with Malaga keeper Carlos Kameni forced into making a great save on the half-hour mark.
The former Espanyol man showed great reactions to parry when Angel Trujillo rose well to meet Jose Antonio Verza's centre and powered a close-range header towards goal. But eight minutes later Kameni was helpless as Almeria took advantage of pedestrian marking to go in front.
Verza again whipped it into the danger area and this time Hemed reacted quickest as Malaga were caught napping and he smashed home from the edge of the six-yard box.
Vitorino Antunes should have given Malaga the perfect riposte before half time, but his volley hit a post and after that the hosts found it tough.
Malaga coach Javi Gracia went for it with a double substitution around the hour mark as Luis Alberto and Ezequiel Rescaldani entered the fray and it seemed to do the trick.
The hosts looked more threatening and they finally got their breakthrough when Samuel exquisitely took Antunes' cross down with his chest and then fired it back across goal with venom to give Julian no chance.
In the past Almeria may have crumbled, but they are made of stronger stuff now and hit back almost immediately as Hemed stuck from the spot after he was felled by Miguel Torres.
The only blot on their evening's work was the dismissal of Michel Machado late on as he needlessly picked up two yellow cards in the last five minutes.