Las Palmas are the last team to qualify for the fourth round of the Spanish cup after they beat Racing Santander 4-2 on Thursday. Kaludjerovic gave the Cantabrians the lead in only the second minute, and although Javi Guerrero equalized later in the first half, a strike from Bouazza with five minutes to go appeared to have wrapped things up for the visitors. However Momo made it all square again from the penalty spot in the third minute of injury time, and headed goals by Murillo and Thievy in extra time took the Canary Islanders through to a meeting with Rayo Vallecano at the end of this month. (18.10.12)
The third round of the cup took place midweek, with twelve teams from the lower divisions making it through to join the 20 first division sides in the next round. Last season's giant killers Mirandés, now a fully fledged second division side, were knocked out by Sporting Gijón, although they were leading right up until the last quarter of an hour, when two goals in nine minutes from substitute Sangoy turned the scoreline around. Almería join the Asturians in Thursday's draw after a comfortable 3-0 win over Alcorcón, Vidal and Ulloa putting the locals two up at the break, and Molinero adding a third on the hour mark. But the other two games on Wednesday evening involving second division A sides went down to the wire, Córdoba knocking out Sabadell thanks to a Pablo Ruíz own goal in the seventh minute of extra time, and Ponferradina beating Huesca 3-4 on penalties after the match ended 1-1. Las Palmas and Racing Santander complete the round tomorrow evening.
No less than four of the six ties involving second division B sides went in to extra time, with Alavés, Eibar and Llagostera beating Huracán, Arroyo and AE Prat respectively thanks to goals scored during the additional period. The game between Constancia and Melilla went all the way to penalties however, with the North Africans beating the Mallorca based side 7-8 in the shoot-out. Elsewhere Jaén beat Noja 0-1, and Cacereño won 1-3 at Lucena. The winners will go in to the hat together with the one team who were given a bye, Alcoyano, and all will be seeded to meet the seven first division sides who are playing in Europe this season, with the first leg at home. Everybody will be hoping that they will be the ones to face Barcelona or Real Madrid! (17.10.12)