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Second Division - Day 24

Another point and another clean sheet for leaders Elche, Fran Escribà's side drawing 0-0 at Las Palmas on Saturday evening to move twelve points clear at the top of the table. The Alicante regional side have built their game this year around their defence, and only a couple of harmless efforts by Momo and Thievy caused any work for Manu Herrera before the break. Coro felt himself hard done by when the referee ruled out an overhead strike for a dubious offside after the restart, and Palanca also hit the bar from a corner before he got himself sent off for a second bookable offence in injury time. Honours shared in the end though, and the Canary Islanders will also be happy with a point which keeps them in sixth spot for the time being.

Alcorcón missed out on a chance to move up to second place after they were beaten 3-0 by struggling Hércules. The game swung in favour of the locals early on when Calahorro was sent off after picking up a second yellow card for giving away a penalty on Javito, Portillo converting the resulting spot kick. And Portillo got his second of the evening after Javito set him up later in the first half, the twelfth goal of the season for the ex Real Madrid striker. Falcón had to be at his best though after that to keep out Oriol Riera and Juli, but with a few minutes to go Edu Bedía wrapped things up with a wind-assisted third goal.

Sabadell are back in to the play-off spots after coming from two down to beat neighbours Barcelona B 3-2. Rafinha headed Eusebio's side in to the lead from a Luis Alberto free kick, and Deulofeu hit the post before Lobato made it two just two minutes before half time. Hidalgo got one back though before the break after Juanjo put him through, and Lanza made it all square with twenty minutes to go after connecting with a cross by Toño. And soon afterwards Luis Alberto turned a corner past his own keeper to give the locals a win which takes them to within three points of their opponents, bringing to an end a run of nine games without defeat for the youngsters

None of the three teams relegated from the first division last season are in any of the promotion positions at the moment, although with a string of new signings Villarreal are at least hoping to make it to the play-off spots or better. They suffered a set-back however when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Guadalajara, a game in which keepers Razak and Juan Carlos were the best players on the park. Sporting Gijón and Racing Santander are doing far worse though, and the two met this weekend, with the Cantabrians running out 1-2 winners in the end. Sandoval's side had been making gradual improvements recently, and David Rodríguez headed them in to the lead early on. However with a quarter of an hour to go new signing Quini got the final touch following a corner to level the scores, and six minutes later Koné took advantage of some slack defending to score the winner. Even so José Aurelio Gay's team stay in bottom spot in the table. (02.02.13)

Girona's away form let them down again, and they stay in third place after a 2-0 defeat at Ponferradina on Sunday lunchtime. Iván Moreno headed Carpio's corner past Dani Mallo to open the scoring in the twentieth minute, and after combining with Lafuente and Mayordomo on the hour mark, the attacking midfielder came close to a hat-trick when he hit the bar later on. The win takes the León based side to within two points of the play-off spots, and Recreativo are only a point behind them after beating Numancia 2-0 in their mid-day match. The goals came in the second half from two of Recre's most promising youngsters, Chuli getting on the end of Arana's wayward shot to open the scoring, and then setting up Alexander for the second on a quick breakaway with the game already in injury time.

Later in the evening Córdoba beat Lugo 1-0 to maintain their sixth spot in the table. Fede Vico headed in the only goal from a Fuentes cross with less than a quarter of an hour gone, and only some good saves from Yoel prevented the locals from winning by a bigger margin. The Galicians ended with ten men after Víctor Marco picked up a second booking near the end. And further down the table Mirandés and Huesca both moved away from the relegation spots with important wins, the former making it three victories in a row after beating fellow strugglers Xerez 1-0 thanks to a last minute headed goal by Javi Soria following a corner, and the latter winning 2-0 against Murcia, Tariq heading the opener early on, and new signing Dani Pacheco beating all and sundry down the by-line to score the second just a minute or so in to the second half. (03.02.13)

Almería stay in second spot in the table despite a 2-1 defeat at Real Madrid Castilla on Monday evening. After the rest of the weekend's results, the hosts started the match in the relegation spots, and they found themselves behind when Charles converted a sixth minute penalty after Iván fouled the Brazilian striker inside the area. Jesé made it all square though after a corner came back out to him midway through the first half, and Esteban had to keep out Cheyshev a couple of times either side of half time before Morata latched on to Jesé's deflected cross with twenty minutes or so to go to give his team three much needed points. (04.02.13)