Second Division A - Day 6

With a full programme of first and second division fixtures coming up in midweek, eight matches were brought forward to Saturday. One of those was the game between Salamanca and leaders Atlético Madrid which ended 0-0. Atlético had their chances in the first half but both Diego Alonso and Correa were off target. Aragonés brought on Fernando Torres in the second half, the under 17 international returning from the youth World Cup in Trinidad. However even he couldn't make the difference, and the visitors were let off the hook in the end when Salamanca hit the woodwork twice in the closing minutes. Salamanca's point takes them up to fifth.

Atlético were knocked off the top spot the day after by Burgos, who beat Xerez 3-1 in the game between the two revelation teams of the season. Cuyami opened the scoring for the home side but Mena made it all square for Bernd Schuster's team before half time. However Burgos imposed their authority in the second half with goals by Isailovic and Tcherychev, his first since signing from Sporting a couple of weeks ago. Burgos go a point above Atlético, and Xerez drop out of the top three to fourth.

Oviedo moved into the top three level with Atlético on points after defeating Racing Ferrol 0-2. Both goals came from Jaime in the first ten minutes of the second half to give the Gallician side their first defeat of the season. They drop to ninth, but do have a game in hand after their match with Nástic was abandoned last week. The competitions committee agreed that the remaining 70 minutes of that game will be played on 14th November.

Numancia defeated fellow promotion candidates Albacete to pick up a much needed three points. The game ended 1-0, with Pacheta scoring the only goal of the game halfway through the first half from Iñaki's cross. Numancia had the best of the game and hit the woodwork three times during the ninety minutes.

Both teams join a group of five clubs on eight points just behind Salamanca, with no less than six clubs a point behind them. One of those was Córdoba who beat Badajoz by a single goal from Brazil's Whelliton on the quarter hour mark. It was new manager Crispi's first win in three games, and the only downside was an injury to keeper Sebas near the end which could keep him out for some time. Badajoz drop further into the relegation zone, and have only picked up two points from their six games.

It was a remarkably low scoring weekend, even for the Spanish second division, with only thirteen goals scored between the eleven games. Four matches ended 0-0, including the game between Jaén and Racing Santander, who once again failed to impress and who ended the day in the relegation zone. Racing only showed any interest in the game in the first half, and both keepers were mere spectators after the break.

The league's most boring team Eibar produced yet another scoreless draw against Extremadura, who scored five last week but could not get past the bus that the Basque team parked in front of their goal. In fact Eibar came closest to scoring, and Cabrejo got the ball in the net in the last minute only to see it ruled out for a hand ball.

Levante and Poli Ejido played out the fourth goal-less draw of the weekend on Sunday evening. The match was influenced by the referee who left Levante with ten men when he sent off Josemi before half time, and then awarded a penalty to the visitors for a foul by keeper Veiga on Trzeciak in the second half. However Veiga made up for his mistake saving Guede's spot kick. Mexican international Gerardo Torrado finally got his transfer papers through and made his debut for Poli Ejido.

Three teams won their first games of the season, two of them winning away by a single goal. Murcia got their first victory at Recreativo Huelva thanks to a goal by Pepe Aguilar early on. The match was made difficult by a waterlogged pitch, and Murcia's new signing Peternac made a brief appearance in the second half.

Elche defeated Sporting Gijon at the Molinon stadium with a controversial second half penalty by Nino. The linesman had flagged for offside of the home grown striker before he was fouled, but referee Paradas Moreno ignored him and gave the spot kick. Fifteen minutes later he sent of Sporting's Aira with a direct red card to end their challenge.

The game between Leganés and Gimnastic Tarragona was high scoring in comparison, the Madrid based side running out 2-1 winners against the Catalans. Iván Pérez came in to the side for his first start, but the man who gave up the number nine shirt to the new signing from Depor, Arnal, scored twice for Leganés in the first half. Méndez replied with a fluke goal for Nástic in the second half, his cross from the left looping over keeper Raúl and in to the net. Nástic stay bottom with only one point from five games, although they do have a two goal lead in the match in hand against Ferrol. Their new signing Vizcaino has yet to make his debut, but is expected to reach full fitness within a week or so.