Spanish second division - day 2

Three teams headed the table with the maximum six points after Sunday's games. As expected, Atlético Madrid kept top spot on goal average with five goals in favour and none against. The other two sides though were a surprise, newly promoted Burgos and Xerez both getting their second victories in a row.

Burgos hung on to beat another of the teams who came up this year, Gimnastic Tarragona thanks to an early goal from César Esteban. Nástic's resistance ended when Manolo was sent off in the second half.

Xerez put their troubles off the field behind them as they went on to win 0-1 at Extremadura. Pineda got the only goal for Bernd Schuster's team before the break.

The big match on Sunday was between two of the relegated teams, Racing Santander and Oviedo. Racing took the lead through Vivar Dorado before the interval, but just when it looked as if they would take the three points, Geni popped to steal an undeserved draw for the visitors. Both have now drawn their opening two matches and appear to be having trouble adapting to the category.

Salamanca are another of the promotion favourites, and they moved up to fourth place with a 2-0 victory over last week's leaders Albacete. Two goals in a five minute period in the first half from Nan Ribera and Makukula sealed it for them.

The other relegated team Numancia are doing even worse than the other two, and they have only picked up one point after losing 1-0 to Recreativo Huelva. New signing Raúl Molina headed the goal for the home side on the hour mark. Recreativo were one of four teams to win after losing last week, and they were joined by Levante, Sporting and Jaén.

Levante beat Córdoba 3-1 with a brilliant individualist goal by Miguel Angel rounding things off. It could be the young midfielder's last game for the Valencia based side, with a move to Málaga due to take place this week. Javi Peña and Kaiku put them two up early on, with Lawal pulling one back before half time.

Sporting Gijon are having to get by with a team of youngsters, with Tcheryshev the latest in a long list to leave the club this week in order to shore up their finances. They did alright though with a 3-0 victory over Badajoz, with goals from Juan (2) and Isma.

Jaén won their local derby with newly promoted Poli Ejido, who are already looking like candidates for relegation. The home side were cruising with a quarter of an hour to go after Milosevic had given them the lead, and although the visitors levelled the scores with a controversial penalty, goals from Jurado and Rueda gave them a 3-1 victory. Ejido are the only club without a point.

The match between Leganés and Elche was played in the midday sun in Madrid and inevitably ended in a goal-less draw. This was the second draw for both sides, and Elche fans have still not seen a goal in 180 minutes of football. (02.09.01)

Atlético Madrid moved temporarily top of the table with a 0-3 victory over Basque side Eibar. Diego Alonso scored twice before the break thanks to goalkeeping errors, and the home side defence broke down again just after the break allowing Stankovic to add the third.

A goal in each half by Ismael gave Racing Ferrol their first three points with a 2-0 victory over Murcia. The game was played in Lugo as the new pitch at Ferrol was not yet ready. (01.09.01).