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Second Division - Day 2

Problems for the teams who were relegated from the first division last summer, with Mallorca currently bottom of the table pending their game on Sunday, and Zaragoza and Deportivo both failing to win their first matches at home. Zaragoza were held to a 0-0 draw by Mirandés on Saturday evening, another disappointing result for Paco Herrera's side following their draw on the opening weekend. Once again visiting keeper Prieto was the star of the match, with saves from Montañés, Víctor and Ortí, and the locals felt they should have had a penalty when the referee failed to spot Corral blocking Víctor's shot with his arm. Deportivo meanwhile were beaten 0-1 by Córdoba, and with the legal administrator insisting that some of their higher paid players move on, their chances of a quick return to the top flight don't seem too bright. A line-up including up to eight home grown players were unable to make much headway, and López Silva got the only goal for the visitors following a set-piece free kick midway through the second half.

A second 1-0 victory takes Córdoba to the top spots of the table, level with Girona and Alcorcón, who also are on six points after wins on Saturday. Girona are in first place on goal difference though after they beat newly promoted Eibar 0-3, a strange game in which all the goals came from the penalty spot in the second half. Felipe Sanchón converted the first on the hour mark after Añibarro was sent off for bringing down Chando, and Chando himself scored the second after Raúl Navas handled in the area. Navas himself was sent off for a foul on Juncà with two minutes to go, and this time it was Eloi who drilled the resulting spot kick past Irureta. Alcorcón met local rivals Real Madrid Castilla later in the evening, and they also clocked up a second 0-1 victory to keep up with the leaders. With Morata, Jesé and Cheryshev all promoted to the first team (and all three watching from the stands), the youngsters were lacking in fire power, and Dani Giménez and his defence prevented them from scoring for a fifth time in a row. The only goal came in the 17th minute, Angel Sánchez's half-hit shot doing enough to roll past Pacheco in to the net.

Castilla's benchmark each year are arch rivals Barcelona B, and the Catalans got the edge on them at these early stages of the season after a 2-1 win over Lugo. Joan Román opened the scoring for Eusebio's side with just under a quarter an hour gone, cutting in from the wing to clip a shot past José Juan, but ex Rangers striker Sandaza ran on to a Pablo Alvarez through ball to equalize later in the first half. After the restart Sergi Gómez deflected a Rennella cross on to the post, and Masip had to save from Rennella a few minutes later, but with six minutes to go Espinosa got the winner with an angled shot which took a slight deflection off a defender to wrong-foot the keeper. Elsewhere Alavés and Las Palmas picked up their first points of the season in a 1-1 draw. An enthusiastic crowd turned up at the Mendizorroza stadium to celebrate their side's promotion back to the second division, but their spirits were dampened when Christantus got on the end of a Tato free kick to put the canary Islanders in front on the half hour mark. Vigueira headed in Emilio's corner though to save a point with ten minutes to go. (24.08.13)

Mallorca continue their disastrous start to their stay in the second division, a 2-4 defeat at home to Murcia on Sunday leaving them firmly down at the foot of the table. As with last week at Sabadell, the early chances fell to the islanders, but with a quarter of an hour gone Kike García got on the end of Tete's cross to beat Aouate. Twenty minutes later Dorca ran in behind the defence to connect with a long free kick for the second, and the hosts were left a man short when Thomas Partney picked up a second booking on the stroke of half time. Things got worse after the restart, Kike picking up Saúl's through ball to score a third for the visitors, but soon afterwards Nsue took advantage of a quickly taken free kick to get one back, and minutes later Gerard Moreno volleyed home a second after Nsue's cross was headed back to him. Any hopes of a comeback though ended when Kevin was also sent off for giving away a penalty which Saúl converted, and Iván Moreno came close a fifth when he hit the bar late on. The match ended with serious protests from the fans, and major shareholder Serra Ferrer had to have a police escort from the ground.

A similar scoreline at Numancia, albeit the other way round, as the locals beat new boys Real Jaén 4-2. The goals came right from the start, Del Pino heading the first from a Julio Alvarez corner and Natalio heading a second soon afterwards. Jona got one back for the Andalusians in the tenth minute and Edgar hit the post after that, but before the interval Alvarez made it three following a corner, and Juanma headed a fourth early on in the second half. Jaén were left with ten men when Nando was shown a second yellow card, but even so substitute Víctor Curto scored his side's second before the end. Numancia move up to fourth, level on points with Recreativo and Sporting Gijón, who drew 1-1 earlier in the evening. Both goals came after the break, Scepovic putting the Asturians ahead with a little bit of fortune, Cabrero saving his first effort but the ball rebounding off the striker in to the net. With ten minutes to go though Arana equalised from the penalty spot after Hugo Fraile fouled Alexander in the area, and although local substitute Jorge Larena was sent off, the final whistle went seconds later.

Last week's leaders Sabadell drop out of the top six though after they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Ponferradina. Local keeper Santamaría had some work to do early on, but Acorán hit the woodwork before the break, and Claudio Barragán's side struck twice in two minutes at the start of the second half, Marquitos turning Yuri's cross past De Navas, and Fofo heading a centre from Marquitos in off the crossbar. The result leaves Girona, Alcorcón and Córdoba as the only three clubs on maximum points, curiously all having reached the play-off stage at least once over the last two years. Hércules were also in the play-offs a couple of seasons ago, but they had a poor campaign last year, and they seem to be off to a shaky start again. This time though Tenerife let them off the hook, the game in the Heliodoro stadium ending 0-0 even though the Alicante based side played almost an hour with ten men after Gai Assulín got himself sent off for kicking out at Carlos Ruíz. A lacklustre attack were unable to beat visiting keeper Falcón despite creating several chances, and the visitors could have won it in the last minute had Aragoneses not kept out Sardinero. (25.08.13)