Third round

The third round of the cup took place this week, with eleven ties played over one leg between lower division sides. Five matches involved second division A sides, with Málaga, Granada 74, Xerez, Hércules and Elche going through to the fourth round together with Las Palmas, who were given a bye. And there were six games between second division B sides, with Burgos, Pontevedra, Alcoyano, Real Unión, Alicante and Denía all qualifying. First division teams join the competition at the next stage, with the second division B survivors seeded to meet six of the sides playing in Europe this year.

Second division A leaders Málaga proved their good recent form by beating Tenerife 1-2, despite putting out a depleted line up. Silva put through his own net to give the Canary Islanders the lead, but Eliseu equalised before Javi Ramos got the winner late on. Cádiz were beaten 2-3 by Granada 74, the newly created side going three up in the first half hour with strikes from Juanlu, Falcón and Francisco before goals in the second half from Casas (a penalty) and Dani made the scoreline more respectable. The defeat cost the head of coach García Remón however, who was sacked the following day.

Albacete coach Quique Hernández may be the next to go after his side lost 0-2 to Xerez, a first half Michel penalty and a late strike from Yordi taking the Andalusians through. Hércules beat Alavés 2-1, Montenegro getting the winner after Aganzo had cancelled out César's early header. And Elche knocked out Eibar by the same scoreline, with Miguel heading the winner in extra time. Altuna had given the Basque side a second half lead, but Miguel made it all square with five minutes to go.

The lower ranked teams were also drawn together, with several illustrious names taking part. Burgos made it through to the next round after beating local rivals Ponferradina 2-0, Saavedra and Zamora getting the goals in each half. And Pontevedra will be joining them after a 2-0 win over Puertollano, an early Igor strike and a last minute Bianchi penalty enough to give them the victory. Rayo Vallecano will not be taking any further part in the competition though after losing 5-3 on a penalty shoot out to Alcoyano. A Cubillo spot kick took the game to extra time and then sudden death after Patri had given the locals the lead, but Cubillo himself missed the vital kick in the shoot out.

Real Unión are in to the last 32 after beating L'Hospitalet 2-1. The Irún based side went two up through Abasolo and Berruet before Chiqui got one back for the Catalans late on. Alicante beat Talavera 0-2 to qualify, Alvaro and Cañadas getting the goals in the second half. And one of the second division B's newly promoted sides Denia will also be facing one of Spain's top teams after beating Portuense 3-1. It was a controversial match though, Migue scoring a hat-trick including two hotly disputed penalties after Sergio Torres had given the Andalusians the lead. (10.10.07)