Favourites Cádiz and Tenerife are both facing uphill battles after they lost their respective first leg games. Cádiz were beaten 3-1 by Lugo, although it could have been worse had Oscar Pérez not scored a late away goal after the Galicians had gone three up. Pita opened the scoring for the home side with ten minutes on the clock after Aulestia could only push out a Belencoso header following Quero's free kick. And twenty minutes later Belencoso got the second himself after Diego Garrido headed on another Quero free kick. Heavy rain had made play difficult, but Quero got the third himself midway through the second half after Luismi's shot was blocked, visiting coach José González getting himself sent off for his constant protests against the referee's decisions. Oscar Pérez's late volley at least gave the Andalusians a vital away goal, but Lugo must now be favourites just a year after missing out on promotion, despite finishing as one of the group champions last season.
Tenerife also have to turn things around next weekend after losing 1-0 at Ponferradina, although they were let off the hook after the locals wasted a string of chances to win the game by a bigger margin. There was controversy surrounding both ties, with Lugo players reportedly receiving calls supposedly from their opponents offering big contracts for next season, and Ponferradina keeper Orlando Quintana reporting an attempt from an unknown source for him to throw the match. In the end though Orlando was a mere spectator for much of the ninety minutes, and Acorán, Isaías and Mayordomo all had chances for the León based side before Pablo Sicilia handled in the area, and Yuri converted the resulting penalty. Acorán in particular missed a couple more opportunities after the restart, but the Canary Islanders held on in the pouring rain to keep themselves in the tie. (17.06.12)