Complicado arranque. By Steve.

MOUTH WATERING START FOR CARTAGENA

BY STEVE HIBBERD

Deportivo La Coruna kick off the new div 2a season at Cartagonova Stadium on the weekend of 21 Aug, a fixture which is sure to bring out Los Albinegros faithfuls in their droves. Recently relegated from La Liga on the last day of last season, where they have spent the last 19 years, having won it in 99/00 and finished 2nd on no less than 4 occasions, Deportivo are truly giants of Spanish football. Next up for Cartagena, is a visit to local(ish) rivals Hercules (Alicante), who ironically have also just fallen through the La Liga trap door.

Other selected calendar dates for the first half of the season are: the visit of newly promoted Alcoyano (near Alicante) on 2 Oct, near neighbours Real Murcia making the short journey to Cartagonova Stadium on 30 Oct, and Spanish football bad boys (Elche) coming to town on 13 Nov (not one for the faint hearted!). Club president Paco Gomez has been quoted as saying, that thoughts of a play off slot are not on his agenda, for he is looking for nothing less than automatic promotion into La Liga - we shall see! Here are the complete list of div 2a first round of matches, involving Cartagena, which are normally played on a Sat or Sun, although both Fri and Mon night games (1 game a week) are also used for live tv (Gol or Marca):

21 Aug - Cartagena v Deportivo La Coruna
28 Aug - Hercules v Cartagena
4 Sep - Cartagena v Barcelona 'B'
11 Sep - Sabadell v Cartagena
18 Sep - Cartagena v Alcorcon
25 Sep - Guadalajara v Cartagena
2 Oct - Cartagena v Alcoyano
9 Oct - Gimnastic Tarragona v Cartagena
16 Oct - Cartagena v Cordoba
23 Oct - Girona v Cartagena
30 Oct - Cartagena v Real Murcia
6 Nov - Celta Vigo v Cartagena
13 Nov - Cartagena v Elche
20 Nov - Almeria v Cartagena
27 Nov - Cartagena v Valladolid
4 Dec - Numancia v Cartagena
11 Dec - Cartagena v Las Palmas
18 Dec - Xerez v Cartagena
8 Jan - Cartagena v Huesca
15 Jan - Villarreal 'B' v Cartagena
22 Jan - Cartagena v Huelva