Mate Bilic came off the bench to fire an equaliser for Sporting Gijon but a third successive win was beyond Manuel Preciado's side.
Sporting were bottom of the table before posting back-to-back Primera Division wins over Granada and Real Mallorca, and they headed into today's clash against in-form Athletic Bilbao at El Molinon hoping to keep the run going.
They fell behind to a close-range volley from Markel Susaeta, but Bilic rescued a point with a long-range strike which took a hefty deflection off team-mate David Barral.
Neither side could find a breakthrough in the first half, with Ander Herrera and Fernando Llorente both threatening the Sporting goal inside the opening half-hour before Sebastian Eguren, Oscar Trejo and Barral were all denied by visiting goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz.
It brightened up after the interval, with Sporting's Andre Castro firing a warning shot off target inside the opening two minutes.
At the other end, Susaeta headed over the bar before team-mate Jon Aurtenetxe slammed a long-range shot over the crossbar.
Athletic made the breakthrough in the 62nd minute when David Lopez swung over a corner from the right and Gaizka Toquero met the ball at the near post, flicking a header across goal for Susaeta to turn in.
He had anticipated the ball reaching him and ran clear of his marker before finding the net from barely two yards.
Bilic was introduced almost immediately, for Alberto Rivera, and it would not be long before he made his impact.
He had gone more than 18 months without a league goal before scoring against Mallorca on Wednesday, and - buoyed by ending his drought - he was quick to seize another chance.
The ball broke to the Croatian 30 yards from goal and he whipped in a shot which took a handy nick off the left calf of Barral, sending the ball spinning out of the reach of Iraizoz, into the right corner of the goal.
Sporting had a couple of late chances, but Ivan Hernandez put a shot the wrong side of the right post before Barral saw a header saved by Iraizoz.
The outcome leaves Athletic unbeaten in eight games, having recovered from their own slow start to the campaign.
