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Second Division - Day 3

Elche and Almeria are joint leaders of the second division after both won their third games in a row on Saturday evening. Elche beat Las Palmas 3-1 in the first round of matches of the weekend, Xumetra giving them an early lead with an individualist goal. Fidel made it two with an angled shot some ten minutes after the restart, and although substitute Javi Guerrero headed in Nauzet's cross a few minutes later, Etxeita made sure of the three points when he headed Mantecón's corner past Barbosa with a quarter of an hour remaining. Almería also have maximum points after they beat Real Madrid Castilla 1-0 later in the evening. Visiting keeper Jesús had a couple of saves to make before Ulloa finally beat him from Casquero's corner midway through the first half. And although local defender Pellerano was sent off for a second bookable offence with ten minutes to go, the youngsters only caused any problems for Esteban with a couple of dangerous free kicks from Mosquero late on.

Three teams are just behind the leaders on seven points, including Villarreal, who came from behind to beat Guadalajara 2-1. Kepa headed the visitors in to the lead on the quarter hour mark, and the visitors held their own until Musacchio equalised with a clever back-heel following a corner midway through the second half. In the end though veteran super-sub Walter Pandiani won it for them with an opportunist goal near the end. Girona are currently in third spot after a 1-0 victory over Ponferradina, the only goal coming in the ninth minute when Jonathan Ruíz's attempted clearance from Tébar's header span back in to his own net. And Murcia are just behind them after they won 2-1 against Huesca, Cristian García setting up Kike García to open the scoring on the quarter hour mark, and the two reversing roles for Cristian to score the second later in the first half. Tariq headed in a centre from Llamas with an hour gone, but after that local keeper Javi Jiménez was hardly troubled.

Lugo and Córdoba drop four points behind the leaders, although both stay unbeaten after drawing 1-1. The Galicians are currently the best ranked of all the newly promoted sides, and they went ahead in the fourteenth minute, Quiroga finishing off after Seone played on a wide free kick. And it was not until four minutes from the end that the Andalusians equalised, Patiño lobbing keeper Yoel to keep his side in sixth spot for now. Numancia are also on five points after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Recreativo, The locals had the better chances but they were unable to beat Alejandro, even when the Huelva based side were down to nine men after Montoro and Fernando Vega were sent off for second yellow cards in the last few minutes. Xerez lose ground on the leading sides though after they were thrashed 0-4 by Mirandés, who had not picked up a single point in their first two games. Fittingly it was last season's cup hero Pablo Infante who got his team's first goal ever in the second division with a shot from the edge of the area on the stroke of half time, and after the restart Aitor, Infante and Goiria added three more. (01.09.12)

When the second division programme paired together Racing Santander and Sporting Gijón in week three, nobody expected that neither of the recently relegated clubs would have picked up a point by then. But both lost their opening two games, and although they picked up their first points in a 0-0 draw, they remain down in the relegation zone for the time being. The match was preceded by a tribute to Manolo Preciado, who died recently, but the ex-coach must have been turning in his grave after watching the performance by his two old teams. Mandi, De las Cuevas and Bilic all wasted chances in the first half, and Jairo preferred to pass to Saizar when he was free in front of the Sporting goal. After the restart visiting keeper Juan Pablo made a couple of key saves from Jairo and Koné, but that was about it.

Hércules are even more worse off though, and they are now in bottom spot without a point to their name after losing 1-0 at Alcorcón later in the day. The only goal came on the quarter hour mark, Oriol Riera scoring in to an empty net after Falcón dropped an Angel Sánchez cross at his feet. Kike López should have added a second later in the first half when free on goal, but in the end Riera's strike was enough to give the Madrid based side their first win of the season. Barcelona B also started their match against Sabadell without having picked up a point, but they move above their neighbours and away from the danger zone after a 2-0 victory. Kiko Femenía opened the scoring for the locals on the quarter hour mark, and Rafinha wrapped things up two minutes in to the second half. Eneko hit the post at the other end and Oier made a couple of good saves later on for his first clean sheet of the season, but Sabadell ended the day just above the bottom four having failed to score in any of their three opening games. (02.09.12)