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Second Division B - play-offs, day 1

The rest of the play-off first legs took place on Sunday, with ex-first division sides Tenerife and Alavés both getting the edge in their respective group champions' play-offs. Tenerife beat L'Hospitalet 3-1, the Catalans at least keeping their hopes alive after Osado scored a late away goal for his team. Luismi Loro had given the Canary Islanders the lead in the eleventh minute with a well struck free kick, and Raúl Llorente and David Medina added two more after the restart. Alavés only just saved a 1-1 draw at Real Jaén though thanks to an injury time penalty, Viguera converting the spot kick after Jaume was fouled in the area. The Andalusians had been by far the better side up to then, but they had only been able to beat Iván Crespo once when Servando headed in a corner close to half time, and they ended with ten men when Mino picked up a second booking with ten minutes to go.

The two victors of those matches will be promoted, but the losers still have a chance of going up as they enter the next round of the play-offs together with the six other winners. Two teams with first division experience were paired together, with Oviedo beating Albacete 1-0 in front of a 20,000 crowd thanks to a shot from the edge of the area by Héctor Simón on the stroke of half time. Lucena beat Huracán Valencia by the same scoreline, Obregón getting the only goal of the game for the Córdoba based side with a header from a corner midway through the first half. And Alcoyano and Eibar drew 2-2, the Basque side racing in to a two goal lead with strikes by Capa and Abaroa in the first twenty minutes, but the locals coming back with a goal by Cases and a Javi Lara penalty after the break.

The relegation play-offs also began on Sunday, with only one team to survive from the four who finished fifth from bottom in their respective groups. The semi-finals were virtually decided in the first legs though, Zamora beating Villanovense 3-0 with two either side of half time from Dani Hernández and a third by Jorge Hernández, and Constancia thrashing Zaragoza B 5-1, Ferrer, Jaime (2), Carreras and Fullana scoring for the Mallorca based side, and Suárez momentarily equalising for the visitors. (26.05.13)

The play-offs for promotion from the second division B began today, with three games on Saturday evening. As luck would have it, the two B teams of first division sides who made it through to this stage were paired together, Bilbao Athletic coming from behind to beat Levante B 1-2. Roger put the locals ahead shortly before the break following a Morales corner, but Guillermo got on the end of a Saborit cross to make it all square with twenty minutes to go, and Goti scored the winner from another corner in the last minute.

Lleida Esportiu also had to come back from a goal down before beating Leganés 2-1. Fer Ruíz opened the scoring for the visitors midway through the first half after picking up a pass from Dioni. But just twenty seconds in to the second half Imaz won the ball outside of the area and fired a shot past Falcón, and twenty minutes later Mata headed the winner from close to goal after Molo headed back a long cross. Everything will be decided next weekend though in Madrid, both teams looking to return to the level they were playing at only a couple of seasons or so ago.

The other match between Caudal and Cartagena will also be resolved next weekend after the first leg ended 0-0. Last season two divisions separated these two teams, the locals from the small Asturian mining town of Mieres del Camino winning promotion from the regional leagues, whereas their opponents were relegated from the second division. Cartagena had surprisingly sacked their manager Pacheta midweek after they were pipped for top spot in their group by Jaén, but they kept the clean sheet they wanted to keep themselves on track for an immediate return to the national leagues. (25.05.13)