Madrid, Nov 30 (IANS): The pre-quarterfinal round of the King's Cup knockout football competition produced few surprises, although struggling Valencia gave coach Cesare Prandelli an important boost away to Leganes.

Leganes and Valencia, who are both in the bottom half of the La Liga table, fielded strong sides for their tie on Tuesday, but it was Valencia who took a big step towards qualifying for the next round with a 3-1 away win, reports Xinhua.

Munir and Medran put Valencia 2-0 up by halftime and although Darwin Machis gave Leganes hope with half an hour remaining, Zakaria Barkali's injury time goal gave Valencia a foot in the last 16.

Espanyol had not conceded a goal in over 450 minutes of football, but fell behind to a goal scored by Alvaro Gimenez in their tie away to second division side Alcorcon.

It was not until six minutes from time that substitute Jose Antonio Reyes leveled the score with a left foot shot from just inside the Alcorcon penalty area to give the Primera Liga side an advantage for the return leg.

In other matches, Sporting Gijon were unable to end a 10 game winless run as they lost 2-1 at home to Eibar.

Both sides fielded teams filled with fringe players, and Eibar took a second minute lead through Bebe.

Borja Viguera equalised in the 62nd minute, but Ruben Vega made it an Eibar an away win when he tapped in at the far post in the penultimate minute of the game.