Second division, day 19

A last minute penalty from Gastón Casas earned a 1-1 draw for second placed Recreativo Huelva against Numancia, although the result left the Andalusians five points behind Xerez at the end of the weekend. Tevenet had given Andoni Goikoetxea's side the lead ten minutes earlier. Almería took advantage of poor results by the sides immediately above them to jump up to third thanks to a 0-1 win at Castilla, Crusat getting the only goal early in the first half. Last week's third placed team Valladolid came back from behind to draw 1-1 at Poli Ejido, and Levante were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Eibar.

Earlier in the day city rivals Real Murcia and Ciudad Murcia played out a 0-0 draw, a result which left them in a three way tie with their other neighbours Lorca, who lost the lead in the last minute and ended up drawing 2-2 at Lleida. Real Murcia's management decided they had had enough though after a string of poor results, and they sacked coach Casuco after the game. Albacete put an end to their bad run though with a 2-0 victory over Hércules, Mario Bermejo and Parri getting the goals late in the first and second halves. And in the battle between the bottom two, Castellón won 1-2 at Málaga B to leave their opponents in last place. (08.01.06)

Xerez threw down the challenge to second placed Recreativo Huelva with a 0-3 win at Nàstic on Saturday evening. Mendoza opened the scoring with a long free kick and Pedro Ríos got the second before the break, and Geijo wrapped things up with a third goal after the restart. The third place in the table is still up for grabs this weekend, with four teams tying on points after today's games. Sporting Gijón edged Valladolid out of the promotion spots pending their match tomorrow after drawing 0-0 at Racing Ferrol, their ninth game in a row without defeat, and Elche are just behind fifth placed Levante after being held to a 2-2 draw by Tenerife. It was a good result for the Canary Islanders' returning coach David Amaral, Toñito and Vázquez levelling the scores twice after Raúl Martín and then Nino had given the locals the lead. (07.01.06)