Second division, day 17

Alavés moved up to second in the table after a 2-1 win over Almería on Sunday evening. The Vitoria based side were two up within the first twenty minutes, Bodipo opening the scoring and Nené getting a second from the penalty spot, but a late Galca strike set up an exciting last couple of minutes. Fourth placed Elche lost ground on the leaders though after they fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Salamanca, who moved away from the danger zone as a result. Lupido (from the penalty spot) and Gorka Brit got the goals late on.

Celta and Valladolid both closed back up on the promotion spots with victories earlier in the day. Celta beat their Galician neighbours Pontevedra 2-0, with Vryzas and Juan Sánchez getting the goals at the beginning and the end of the second half. The result leaves the visitors still in the relegation zone, and means that all four of the bottom clubs lost. And Valladolid won 0-2 away at Málaga B, their goals coming from Aduritz and Hornos. (19.12.04)

With a round of midweek matches coming up before the Christmas break, no less than seven games were brought forward to Saturday evening.

Cádiz extended their lead at the top of the table with a 4-1 in over Tenerife, Jonathan Sesma getting the first two goals in the opening ten minutes as the Andalusians raced to their seventh win in a row. Second placed Eibar kept up their good away record with a 0-0 draw at Sporting Gijón, and Nàstic beat local rivals Lleida 2-1 with two goals from Pinilla to move up to fifth pending Sunday's games. Xerez lost out on the chance to move up into the top three though after they lost 1-0 to neighbours Recreativo.

Defeats for three of the four clubs in the relegation zone, and a gap is now opening up between them and the rest of the pack. Bottom club Córdoba failed once again to raise their heads above the water, losing 2-0 to a Poli Ejido side who had not won in nine games. Real Murcia lost 0-1 to Terrassa, and their city neighbours Ciudad Murcia were hammered 4-0 by Racing Ferrol. (18.12.04)