Spain
Both the top two enjoyed wins this weekend as Elche left it late against lowly Huesca but a double from substitute Angel, his first goals since returning to Elche on loan from Levante, gave them a comfortable win in the end. They remain 12 points ahead of Almeria in second who had a good 4-1 win over Ponferradina & 16 points ahead of the play-off places, as third placed Alcorcon had a rare home slip up losing 1-0 to Sporting Gijon. They are leapfrogged by Girona, who have been poor of late but returned to winning ways with a 2-0 success over fifth placed Cordoba. Villarreal had clambered into the play-off zone after a unbeaten run of four games & although they made it five unbeaten with a 1-1 draw at home to Las Palmas, they slip a place to seventh.
Barcelona B & Sabadell both recorded 1-0 wins which lift them into the play-off zone. Barca B overcame a fast improving Hercules side thanks to a second half Rafael winner which drops the visitors back to second bottom, while Sabadell scored in the fifth minute of injury time to beat Xerez, who remain rooted to the bottom after their seventh successive loss & 15th game without a win. New coach Carlos Rios looked like getting a valuable point on his first game in the dugout until an own goal from Galan sent the visitors into raptures.
Racing Santander beat Mirandes 2-0 in a vital game at the bottom. Racing, who looked doomed a few weeks ago, have now won three of the last four & are only two points behind Huesca in the safety of 18th place. Mirandes remain in the last relegation spot one point ahead of Racing, three in front of Hercules & six points above Xerez.
Germany
Hertha Berlin top the 2.BL table for the first time this season after they defeated 10 man Kaiserslautern in the big Monday night game. Hertha go one point ahead of Eintracht Braunschweig, who have held top spot all season but suffered their first home loss as 1860 Munich struck twice in the last 13 minutes to collect all three points at the Eintracht Stadion. Kaiserslautern’s defeat leaves them in third place 12 points behind Braunschweig & with a mountain to climb if they are to secure automatic promotion back to the Bundesliga. Koln have strung together an unbeaten run stretching back 11 games & sit clear in fourth place, just three points behind Kaiserslautern after a 2-0 win over Union Berlin, whose own play-off hopes took a huge knock. Koln still have to visit Kaiserslautern in what will be a crucial fixture with a huge attendance. 1860 Munich’s surprise win in Braunschweig lifts them into fifth place above FSV Frankfurt on goal difference with both sides six points behind Kaiserslautern. FSV were beaten 3-0 at St Pauli, for whom Daniel Ginczek bagged a hat-trick, ending a run of two successive wins & giving St Pauli some breathing space at the bottom with their first win in six games.
Jahn Regensburg stay at the bottom but will be happy with a 1-1 draw at Cottbus & have now picked up four points from their last two away fixtures as former Poland coach Smuda plots their great escape. Sandhausen were beaten 3-1 at home to Paderborn & remain in the drop zone, three points behind Dynamo Dresden who grabbed a valuable point at Ingolstadt. Dynamo are in the relegation place & sit three points behind Aue & Duisburg, which makes their next away game a vital one as they visit Aue.
Will Dresden’s suberb Glucksgas Stadion host 3.Liga football next season? courtesy of arjay5020
Holland
Another huge scoring weekend in Eerste Divisie as yet more games fell foul of the weather. There was a full programme on Friday but three of the planned seven re-arranged fixtures on Monday were postponed. Sparta faced a tough trip to in form Volendam on Friday but came through with flying colours as they won 4-1. Both teams were involved in high scoring games on Monday as well, as Sparta were humbled at home by Den Bosch in a game that ended 5-1 but could have been a lot worse as the visitors squandered several chances late on. Volendam got back to winning ways, thumping Dordrecht 6-1 with Jack Tuyp on target, taking his tally to 20 for the season. MVV Maastricht are second, one point behind Sparta after they lost 3-1 at Almere on Friday but returned to winning ways on Monday with a 2-0 success at FC Oss. Helmond are now four points behind the leaders as they went down 2-1 at Go Ahead Eagles.
De Graafschap picked up four points out of six after drawing 1-1 at home to Veendam then beating Go Ahead Eagles 5-2, taking their unbeaten run to 11 games in the process. Former Veendam striker Anco Jansen scored in both games & has now hit the net in each of the last seven games. Cambuur lose touch at the top, although they have plenty of games in hand after a 0-0 draw on Friday with Den Bosch. Looking back at the visitors’ performance at Sparta, maybe that was not such a bad result!
Eindhoven are now on their own at the foot of the table after a 2-0 home loss to Telstar. Excelsior move a point ahead of them after a dramatic last minute leveller from keeper Jordy Deckers, who took the ball on his chest before firing home in the 2-2 draw with Dordrecht. Emmen remain three points ahead of Eindhoven & didn’t play this weekend as their crunch game at Excelsior on Monday was one that fell victim to the weather.
After hitting Volendam for four, Sparta then shipped five goals versus Den Bosch.
France
Monaco & Nantes continue their charge towards Ligue 1 as both overcame difficult home fixtures at the weekend. Monaco beat Lens 2-1 to go five points clear & Nantes scored early in each half as they recorded a 2-0 win over Le Havre. The tussle for third place is equally as exciting as Caen & Guingamp lead the battle for the last remaining promotion spot. Guingamp drop to fourth as they became the fourth team in a row to lose to rapidly improving Auxerre. Caen take third spot after a narrow 2-1 win over lowly Laval. Angers & Nimes are both four points behind Caen & two behind Guingamp after both enjoyed 1-0 wins over out of form opposition. Angers beat GFCO Ajaccio who arrived with new coach Thierry Laurey in tow but he couldn’t stop the Corsicans sliding to a sixth straight defeat & Nimes won the derby of the south as Nicolas Benezet got the only goal of the game as Istres were defeated 1-0.
Sedan picked up a point in a 1-1 draw to Tours but need to turn draws into wins if they want to avoid the drop, which is exactly what they did on Tuesday with an excellent 1-0 win over an Auxerre side who had won their last four. The result moved them level on points with GFCO Ajaccio, who remain second bottom with Arles, who were beaten 2-0 at Chateauroux. Sedan & GFCO Ajaccio are six points from safety with 12 games remaining.
Italy
A full programme of midweek football as well as weekend action in Serie B, as Sassuolo march closer to Serie A with two wins. Livorno only managed to pick up three of the six points available after they were beaten by Crotone & Hellas Verona closed the gap to one point after victories over fourth placed Varese & lowly Bari. Varese got back to winning ways after the Hellas defeat by beating in form Cesena, thanks to a last minute Troest strike. One defeat in 14 games has moved Empoli to within three points of Varese, their latest win was a fine 3-0 success at Brescia in which Francesco Tavano struck twice to take his season’s tally to 13. Padova hold the last play-off place after swapping places with Juve Stabia following a 1-0 win, a huge relief for the men from Padua who had gone seven games without a victory.
Grosseto failed to pick up any points in this double header & lost a key battle with relegation rivals Vicenza to a last minute Bojinov goal that lifts Vicenza out of the drop zone. Pro Vercelli beat Bari 2-1 but could only manage a goalless draw at home to Cittadella & remain second bottom with Bari completing the automatic drop zone places. Vicenza’s win at Grosseto lifts them into a relegation play-off place, just below Reggina who despite being in a precarious league position are only nine points away from Padova in the last promotion play-off place, meaning a run of good (or bad) form could dramatically change a team’s fortunes in the space of a few weeks. Serie B, as crazy as ever!
Born Offside
