Second Promotion Play-off. 12 teams in it – 9 from Second Division plus the champion of Primera B Metropolitana – Talleres (RE) – and the top teams from Torneo del Interior – San Martin and Estacion Quequen. The formula of the tournament was cup-format – direct elimination in two legs. The and 3rd from Second Division started at the second round – the ¼ finals and the 2nd – in the ½ finals.
Douglas Haig lost to Huracan 0-3 and 2-2.
Talleres (Remedios de Escalada) was eliminated by Belgrano 0-0 and 1-4.
Atletico Tucuman lost to Colon 1-0 and 0-1 – possibly, losing a penalty shoot-out. Standing from left:Carlos Suárez, Miguel Gerez, Carlos Munutti, Miguel Diamante, Ramón Villafañe, Julio C. Lencina.
Front: Miguel Rearte, Luis Fabián García, Raúl Aredes, Luis C. Reartez, Antonio Apud.
Tigre lost to San Martin 0-1 and 0-1.
Estacion Quequen was eliminated by Chaco For Ever 1-3 and 1-1. Second row from left: Jorge D. Casaprima (PF), Claudio Mainardi, Carlos Viel, Sergio Mainardi, Luis Sánchez, Horacio Stelle, Ricardo Erasún.
Crouching: Roberto Crausaz, Ricardo Guerrero, Mario Márquez, Carlos Beguiristain, Luis Pekel.
¼ finals.
Belgrano was eliminated by Huracan 1-3 and 1-1. Standing from left: Lucio Del Mul – Juan C. Reyna – Alejandro Chiera – José Céliz – Daniel Sperandío – Gustavo Tognarelli.
Front: Rubén Rodríguez – Osvaldo Strecchia(Uruguay) – Edgardo Parmigiani – Mauro Pazzarelli – Omar Da Fonseca.
Cipolletti lost to San Martin 2-5 and 1-1.
Colon lost to Chaco For Ever 1-0 and 1-2. It was unclear how they eliminated Atletico Tucuman in the previous round and it is unclear how they lost here – surely, not on away goal rule.
½ finals.
End of the road for Huracan – eliminated by Chaco For Ever 1-0 and 0-1. Once again, unclear on what rule… Standing from left: Guillermo Nicosia, Hebert Birriel (Uruguayan), Eduardo Quinto Pagés, Pedro Fóppoli, Eugenio Gentile, Carlos Torino.
First row: Ariel Paolorossi, Daniel Messina, Héctor Herrero, Marcelo Bachino, Atilio Oyola.
No luck for Quilmes too – they lost to San Martin 0-0 ans 1-2. They lost the home leg… Standing from left: O. Aguilar, C. Jeannoteguy, J. Orengo, G. Puentedura, G. Escalante, E. Kalugerovich. First row: R. Kergaravat, O. Gómez, D. Leani, A. Llane, Juan Sotelo.
Final – Chaco For Ever vs San Martin. Provincial final opposing a team from Second Division to one technically from Third level. And the team from the lower level won both legs – 1-0 and 2-0. If anything, this was the justification of the complicated second promotion tournament.
Lady Luck abandoned Chaco For Ever at the very end – just a prove that one can run all the way on sheer luck… Yet, Chaco For Ever did very well – they were not a factor in the Second Division championship, finishing 4th 7 points behind the winners, but had strong second run in the promotion play-off, coming from behind and thus playing all stages. But they were not good enough to earn promotion… Standing from left: Raúl Valdez, Celso Freyre, Felipe Di Marco, Daniel Sperandío, Gustavo Ferlatti, Hugo Parrado.
Crouching: Luis E. Sosa (Uruguayan), Juan Argüello, Daniel Cravero, Carlos Rosas, Juan M. Sotelo.
San Martin (Tucuman) won the second promotion to top flight – thus, skipping Second Division. A club which should not be playing Third Level really, for traditionally they were among the strongest clubs outside greater Buenos Aires. But had the hard luck to be out of the new divisional system of the country. And they proved they belonged to the best – not to second and even less to third rate teams. 6 wins and 2 ties in the promotion campaign – they did not lose at all, really, the best team. Top row from left: Guillén, Belardi (PF), Daza, A. Juárez, Monteros, Solbes, Chabay (DT), Haymal, Unali, L. Moreno, J. C. Roldán (AC). Middle row: Rutar, Noriega, Troitiño, Ibáñez, R. Robles, Campos, Chazarreta, Medina, J. López. Sitting: Romano, R. Torres, Galván, Dilascio, R. Roldán, R. Martínez, Villafañe, Giménez, Benítez.
Well done, San Martin! Both promotions went to provincial clubs this year – a prove that the provinces did not deserve to be put down by supposedly deeply embedded Buenos Aires superiority.