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Second Division - Day 18

With leaders Deportivo playing on Sunday, second placed Recreativo came in to their Saturday evening game at Girona knowing that a win would take them back to the top of the table. However they remain a point behind the Galicians after the game ended 1-1. Although they have the worst home record in the league this season, the Catalans went ahead in the tenth minute when Moisés Hurtado turned in a corner on the near post. Linares headed the equalizer on the hour mark though after Arana headed on a long free kick, and Jandro and Linares hit the crossbars at either end later on. Meanwhile Numancia are putting in their claim for a return to the top flight, a 2-0 victory over regional rivals Ponferradina taking them up to fourth pending Sunday's games. The Soria based side had lost ground a bit on the rest after three draws and a defeat in their last four matches, but with only five minutes on the clock Natalio headed in Vicente's cross to put them in front. Local keeper Biel Ribas had some work to do after that, but with two minutes to go substitute Sergi Enrich latched on to a Julio alvarez pass to wrap things up.

Numancia move a point above Lugo, who drop to fifth after a 2-1 defeat at Alavés. Juan Carlos Mandiá was in charge for the first time in the Mendizorroza stadium after replacing Natxo González a couple of weeks ago, and he saw his new team take the lead in the eleventh minute when Viguera set up Toti to open the scoring. Sandaza got on the end of a Pablo Alvarez cross to make it all square with seven minutes to go, but with the game in injury time Oscar Serrano beat Dani Mallo with a well struck free kick to give his side their first win in nine games. Zaragoza also missed out on a chance to close up on the leaders after they lost 1-0 at Sabadell. The Catalans started the day in the relegation spots, and they wasted a good chance to go ahead on the stroke of half time when Gato fired a penalty kick wide after Movilla had handled in the area. The striker made up for his mistake however later on, connecting with a Collantes cross to fire a shot wide of Leo Franco on the hour mark.

Sabadell stay in the bottom four though, albeit just five points away from the play-off spots, and so do Hércules despite a 0-2 win at Alcorcón. The locals had not scored at home since the end of September, and they were unable even to convert a penalty, Falcón saving from Pacheco at the start of the second half after Peña handled the ball inside the area. A few minutes later Portillo headed the visitors in to the lead from Ferreiro's cross, and midway through the second half Gai Assulín put the result beyond the reach of the Madrid based side, beating Dani Giménez with a low shot from the edge of the area. Surprisingly there were victories on Saturday for all four of the teams in the relegation zone, bottom club Real Madrid Castilla winning 0-2 at Las Palmas to keep up their good run under new coach Manolo Díaz. Raúl De Tomás hit the bar before Aythami Artiles deflected a Quini shot in to his own net in the fifteenth minute, and Borja García got the second after a good team move early on in the second half. (14.12.13)

Deportivo's run of six games in a row without defeat came to an end when they were beaten 2-1 by Eibar on Sunday lunchtime, although they stay in first place after Recreativo could only draw on Saturday. The Basque side are having a great season after winning promotion last summer, and they took the lead with eight minutes to go to the break when Arruabarrena fired a shot past Lux after Kijera's cross came back to him off a defender. After that the locals sat back to defend, but they were always looking for the quick breakaway, and with a quarter of an hour or so left on the clock Arruabarrena got on the end of Gilvan's centre to score his second of the day. Substitute Luis did get one back after Rudy set him up in the last minute, but there was no time left for any more.

Eibar are up to fourth, but they remain three points behind Sporting Gijón after the Asturians beat Mirandés 3-2 later in the evening. Once again the goals came from their Serbian strike force, Lekic heading the first from Santi Jara's cross with just over half an hour gone, and Scepovic adding two in the next five minutes, the first a header from Canella's centre, and the second after controlling a long ball out of defence before beating Dani Jiménez. Iván Agustín headed one back before the break though from Muneta's free kick, and a second goal by Borja Dorcal set up a nail biting last twenty minutes for the local fans.

Sporting move to within a point of second placed Recre, and Murcia are back in to the play-off spots after beating Barcelona B 3-1, their first win in nine games. Dongou followed up his first goal for the senior side with the opener for the visitors on the half hour mark, firing a shot past Casto after Denis Suárez put him through. Julio Velázquez's team turned things around with three goals in the last eight minutes however, Kike García making it all square with a near post header from a corner before intercepting a bad Bagnack back pass to set up Malonga, and Saúl converting a last minute penalty after Samper brought down García in the area following another mistake by the Cameroonian full back.

Córdoba are also back in the running for the play-off spots, a 1-0 victory over Tenerife keeping them level with Murcia in the table. It was a turn-around of fortunes for both sides, the Andalusians having not won in four games, and the Canary Islanders seeing their run of eight matches without defeat come to an end. A dull game though, the first real chance not coming until a quarter of an hour in to the second half when Ayoze failed to beat Saizar, and substitute Abel Gómez firing home the winner a few minutes later after Carlos Ruíz stepped over Dávila's cross to fire a shot past Roberto.

Once again however the second division is being closely fought, with only five points separating the play-off spots from the relegation zone, and a couple of defeats or victories can radically change the position of any of the teams. A win for example could have taken Mallorca up to fifth, but they drop to eleventh after losing 2-1 at Jaén, who themselves jump from seventeenth to twelfth. Juanma opened the scoring for the Andalusians early on after Jozabed's corner fell to him, and Israel Jerez made it two with a low shot past Rubén Miño later in the first half. Alfaro connected with Nsue's cross to equalize though just three minutes after the restart, and the Balearic Islanders came close to saving a point when Alex Moreno hit the bar near the end. (15.12.13)