Numancia head the second division pending Málaga's game on Sunday after a 1-4 win at Albacete. Juan Carlos Moreno started things off with a shot from the edge of the area on the half hour mark, and Gorka Brit volleyed home a second before half time. Peña got one back with a direct free kick two minutes after the restart, but Carmelo restored the two goal cushion, beating Valbuena just a minute later. Brit got himself sent off near the end, but Julio Alvarez wrapped things up with an injury time penalty after Baggio handled in the area to leave the Manchegans further down in the drop zone.

Newly promoted Racing Ferrol are in second spot, level with Numancia on ten points, after a 0-1 victory at Elche. Jonathan Pereira sailed past three defenders to score the only goal somewhat against the run of play midway through the first half. And after that visiting keeper Queco Piña was the star of the match, producing a string of saves to hand David Vidal's side their first defeat of the season.

Real Sociedad came back from a goal down to beat Las Palmas 2-3, getting their revenge for their midweek defeat in the cup. The Canary Islanders had their keeper Pindado sent off in only the third minute for handling outside of the area, but even so they went ahead when Nauzet beat Riesgo on the follow up. Gerardo made it all square from the penalty spot though after Capi gave away a foul in the area on the hour mark, and strikes from Vaughan and Díaz de Cerio a few minutes later turned the result around. Márquez did get a late penalty after a foul by Gerardo, but it was not enough to change the result.

Real's Basque neighbours Alavés got their first point of the season with a 1-1 draw against Cádiz. Aganzo gave Josu Uribe's side the lead when he headed home a corner midway through the second half, his side's first goal of the season. But only three minutes later Parri equalised with a shot from the edge of the area after a previous effort had been blocked. Aganzo almost won it though with a last minute header which went just wide.

Sporting Gijón continued their good start, and they move up to fourth after a 0-2 win at Xerez. Barral put the Asturians ahead on the hour mark with a shot from outside of the area, his fourth of the season (level with Brit as top Pichichis). Local coach Roldán brought on Antoñito and Yordi to join Michel, but Robert kept out everything they could throw at him. And with the visitors down to ten men after Omar was sent off, Sastre rounded things off when he headed in a second goal in injury time. (15.09.07)

Málaga made it four wins out of four after beating Castellón 2-3 on Sunday lunchtime. Peragón opened the scoring with only a minute on the clock, controlling a high ball to beat Oliva, but it took over an hour before they got a second goal when Baha connected with Paulo Jorge's pass to score. With ten minutes to go Nakor got one back after a slip by Goitia, but two minutes later Hidalgo lobbed the keeper for his side's third, and Reggi last minute header came too late to change things.

Málaga are two points ahead of three teams, Numancia, Ferrol and also Hércules, who won 0-1 at Tenerife later in the evening. The turning point of the match came five minutes in to the second half when Ricardo was sent off for brining down Blas Pérez inside the area, Farinós converting the resulting spot kick. And the Canary Islanders had to play the last quarter of an hour with nine men after Marc Bertrán was also sent off for a foul on Tote.

Gimnastic lost round on the leaders though, a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Eibar allowing the Basque side to catch them in the table. The Catalans had to play with ten men for three quarters of the match after Abraham was sent off for bringing down Yagüe, and things got worse when Txiki converted the resulting free kick. Visiting keeper Roberto saved an Alana penalty in the second half, but he was beaten again in the second minute of time added on by Del Olmo, and to add insult to injury Jandro was also shown the red card before the final whistle.

A first win for Celta at last, Antonio Nuñez getting the only goal in a 0-1 result at Poli Ejido to take some pressure off coach Hristo Stoichkov. The game swung in the Galicians' favour in only the fourth minute when Juan Díaz was sent off for a foul on Vitolo, but Usero and Gerardo could have scored for the locals before the break. Nuñez produced a dazzling run though ten minutes in to the second half to put his side ahead, and they could have won by a bigger margin in the end.

And their were first victories too for two other sides, Córdoba and Salamanca moving away from the danger zone as a result. Córdoba beat neighbours Sevilla Atlético 2-1, with Endika giving them the lead when he headed Guzmán's free kick past Javi Varas before the break. Pierini headed a second from a corner midway through the second half, and Diego's impressive strike three minutes from the end couldn't prevent the youngsters from a first defeat of the season.

Last week's bottom club Salamanca won 3-1 against Granada 74, leaving Albacete, Las Palmas, Alaves and Xerez in the relegation spots. Quique Martín opened the scoring from the penalty spot after he was fouled by Juanlu, his side's first goal in almost 300 minutes of football. Gibanel headed an equaliser five minutes before the break, but a couple of minutes later Crespi turned a cross past his own keeper, and Quique Martín made sure with a third goal right at the end. (16.09.07)