Another fun week in the Segunda, with Elche's Edu converting a penalty in the 90th minute to defeat Sporting 2-1 and keep their 100% record and two-point lead at the top over Villarreal. Manolo Sánchez has his hands full in Asturias, with Sporting now second from bottom with only two points, still winless in the league.
Villarreal defeated Hércules 1-0 with a goal from Cavenaghi in the first half; their Alicante neighbors have only three points form five games now and surely a coaching change is imminent, as this team has too good a roster to be that far down the table. As you can see form the comments in the gamethread, the Yellow Submarine's defense has tightened up nicely, but the attack is still a work in progress. Yet again, superiority in possession didn't translate into many goalscoring opportunities, but another home win is welcome!
Almeria swamped colista Guadalajara 4-0, and the visitors were never in it. As we saw when they played Villarreal, Guadalajara try their best, but just don't have enough quality in the roster to create many problems. They nearly were relegated before the season started for financial concerns, but their performance on the pitch is surely going to do them in unless a miracle occurs.
Girona continues to score goals in bunches. Five again, this time against a Las Palmas side that was coming off consecutive league losses to Elche and Alcorcon. Felipe Sanchón notched his second and third goals of the season--he had only four all last year for Hércules--as Girona triumphed 5-0.
When it comes to goals from a surprising source, look no further than ex-Villarreal B starlet Javi Matilla. He scored his third goal of the season late on to earn the paprika-men a 2-2 draw with Mirandés. In his Villarreal B/Villarreal/Betis career, Matilla scored a grand total of two goals in the last three seasons. He's playing at Murcia on loan from Betis, by the way. Mirandés led 2-0 at the half and will be furious they let this one get away.
And Alcorcón picked up their third straight win to move into fifth in the table, with a 2-1 victory over Cordoba. It's early yet, but it's looking like Cordoba's sale of Charles might have torpedoed any chance they had to do well this year. Our loanee Joselu came on in the second half for them.
USMNT international Carlos Bocanegra was on the subs' bench but didn't see action as Racing throttled Recre 3-0 to move out of the botom three and post their first win of the season. Ex-Barca B and Brighton youngster Gai Assulin scored one in injury time, by the way.
Other results: Barcelona B 2 Ponferradina 1
Real Madrid Castilla 2 Sabadell 3
Lugo 2 Huesca 4
Xerez 2 Numancia 0