Second division, day 21

Valladolid are going from strength to strength, and they followed up their cup victory against Villarreal with a 2-0 win over Numancia. Mendilibar's side are now six points clear of Murcia and seven above Almería, who consolidated third spot with a 0-1 victory at bottom club Vecindario.

The top three have opened up a four point gap over the rest though, with Ciudad Murcia taking advantage of poor results from the teams above them to move up to fourth after beating Salamanca 1-0. Xerez are back in the running as well after a 3-1 win over Sporting Gijón earlier in the day, and only three points separate nine sides after Alavés won 0-2 at Ponferradina.

Las Palmas stay down in the bottom four after drawing 1-1 at Poli Ejido, although for a while they were in the lead. Lorca are just a point behind them now after beating Albacete 3-0. And Málaga and Castellón are still not safe after they cancelled each other out in a 0-0 draw. (21.01.07)

Real Murcia ensured second spot at the half way stage of the competition with a 1-1 draw at Tenerife on Saturday evening. Antoñito saved them a point after Cristo had given the Canary Islanders a second half lead. Cádiz moved up to fifth pending Sunday's games with a 0-1 win at Castilla, new signing Pablo Hernández getting the only goal to extend their unbeaten run to ten matches. Hércules though fell to their first defeat in six games after losing 2-0 to Elche, strikes from Miguel and Trotta taking David Vidal's new side away from the danger zone. (20.01.07)