Second division, day 8

Xerez moved back up to second place, a point behind Poli Ejido, after beating Ciudad Murcia 0-2 on Sunday. Mena and Raúl Molina got the goals either side of half time to send their opponents down to join their city rivals Real Murcia in the relegation zone. Elche missed out on a chance to go to the top after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Almería. They do stay in the promotion spots though, albeit level on points and goal average with Racing Ferrol, who beat Alavés 2-1. Juanito got the winning goal for the Galicians after Bodipo had equalised Flavio's earlier strike.

The two promotion favourites Celta and Valladolid go from bad to worse though, and both find themselves in the bottom half of the table after the weekend's results. Celta lost 2-0 at Cádiz, who themselves are only a point off the top three, and Valladolid drew 1-1 against Lleida, Víctor saving a point with a goal in the dying minutes. Salamanca climbed out of the drop zone after a 1-0 win over Recreativo, and bottom club Córdoba beat fellow strugglers Nàstic 2-0 for their first win of the season, a good start for new manager Roberto Fernández. (17.10.04)

Four matches on Saturday evening, curiously all of which began with goals for the away sides. Real Murcia were the only team to take the three points though, their 0-2 victory over Málaga B taking them off the bottom of the table and saving the head of manager Manolo Preciado. Argentine youth international Nico Medina got both goals to give them their first win of the season. Leaders Poli Ejido came from a goal down to draw 1-1 against Sporting Gijón, substitute Manolo Hidalgo cancelling out Ismael's early penalty, and there was a similar result in the Canary Islands between Tenerife and Basque side Eibar, who move up into the top three pending Sunday's games. A thrilling match as well between Pontevedra and Terrassa, where the Galicians turned around a 0-2 scoreline in the second half only for the visitors to level at 3-3 thanks to a controversial last minute penalty. (16.10.04)