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Copa del Rey, third round

The last two games took place on Thursday, with Alcorcón and Las Palmas joining the other ten survivors in the fourth round. Alcorcón had to wait until extra time though before beating Eibar 1-2, Christian Alfonso getting the winner after Yuri could only head back a Rubén Sanz corner. The visitors had taken the lead on the stroke of half time when Ex Alcorcón striker Urko Vera headed another Sanz corner in to his own net, but Capa made it all square after a good run down the wing by Morales. After Alfonso's goal Vera come close to making up for his mistake when he hit the crossbar, but with the game coming to an end Eibar midfielder Diego Rivas got himself sent off for a second bookable offence.

Later in the evening Las Palmas had no problems seeing off struggling Hércules, the Canary Islanders racing in to an early two goal lead before running out 3-0 winners. Chrisantus was the only player in the home team line-up who was not born in the islands, and he opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a low shot after Tana played on Asdrúbal's pass. Some five minutes later Momo made it two from the penalty spot after Héctor Font brought down Asdrúbal in the area, and Tana took advantage of a poor Aitor clearance to wrap things up in the first minute of the second half.

The twelve qualifiers are now sure of a two-leg tie against a first division side, with the first legs to be played for the first time on a weekend at the beginning of December. However their opponents will probably not be known for a couple of weeks or so as the Federation have not yet set a date for the draw. (17.10.13)

The third round of the cup took place this week, as usual divided up in to two halves. Some twelve lower ranked sides were vying for a lucrative fourth round tie against one of La Liga's European teams (together with Sant Andreu, who were given a bye), and another ten second division clubs played off for a lesser prize of a fixture against one of the other top flight outfits. That included second division leaders Recreativo, who made it eight wins in a row in all competitions after beating Lugo 1-0 on Wednesday evening. The Andalusians had the better chances throughout, but it was not until ten minutes from the end that Joselu connected with an Araujo assist to beat the excellent José Juan, the referee waving away claims by the visitors for offside.

It was a bad day for Galicia, with Deportivo also dumped out of the competition after losing 2-0 at Jaén. Fernando Vázquez put out a line-up with five defenders, packed with reserves and youngsters (Marchena accepted), and with Fabricio in good form they held on until the last twenty minutes. However Servando headed in a corner to give the Andalusians a deserved lead, and Juanma made it two soon afterwards after another corner came out to him. The other game on Wednesday between second division sides ended without goals, scoring chances and to a large extent spectators (a season low 2,000 crowd), Girona beating Alavés 4-2 on the penalty shoot out after local keeper Palatsi saved spot kicks from Guzmán and Alex Ortíz.

Three games between the lower ranked sides were also decided on penalties, with away sides Racing Santander, Algeciras and Olimpic Xativa all going through. Racing knocked out Leganés 3-5 on spot kicks, the game ending 1-1 after Alvaro Soría put the locals ahead early on, but his namesake Javi Soria equalizing from the penalty spot soon after the restart. Both teams had a player sent off. Algeciras won 1-3 on penalties against regional third division side Haro after the match finished 1-1, Scotland's Ryan Harper giving the visitors the lead early on but Breixo making it all square a minute later. And Olimpic Xativa beat Laudio 7-8 in the shoot out following a thrilling 2-2 draw, Gaizka Bergara putting the locals in front in the second half and then in extra time (with a penalty), but Alex Belda and then Pau leveling it both times.

If it was bad for the Galicians, it was a great evening for the Catalan sides, with Gimnàstic Tarragona and Lleida joining Girona and Sant Andreu in the last 32. Nàstic won 0-1 at Burgos, Marcos getting the only goal from the penalty spot in the eighth minute and the visitors holding on tooth and nail after that. And Lleida beat third division Xerez 1-3, Imaz converting an early penalty and adding a second with twenty minutes to go, and Mata netting a third before Aguilar got a late consolation with a second penalty. It was too much for the long suffering local fans though, and there were some ugly incidents after the final whistle, including an attack on the Lleida team bus. Earlier in the afternoon Cartagena cruised through to the next round with a 1-4 victory at Tudelano, Antoñito, Fede, Fernando and Menudo getting the goals for the visitors in the second half, and Martí pulling one back for the Navarra based team with five minutes to go. (16.10.13)