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By Brian Homewood
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Independiente coach Claudio Borghi quit in the dressing-room on Sunday just minutes after his side lost their third consecutive game, a 1-0 loss to Huracan in the Argentine championship.
Boca Juniors lost their second successive home game, going down 2-1 to Estudiantes, and champions River Plate completed their seventh game without a win as they were held 0-0 at Gimnasia-La Plata.
San Lorenzo, 1-0 winners at Velez Sarsfield on Saturday, lead the standings on 22 points from nine games.
Borghi became the fourth coaching victim of the Apertura championship when he walked out on the Red Devils, who historically are one of Argentina's great clubs but now routinely find themselves stuck in mid-table.
He was in charge for 17 games and had suffered only one defeat before the string of three losses.
"I apologise for letting people down," he told reporters.
"We've lost three games in a row and there are many parts of the world where that is not allowed, including Argentina."
Leandro Diaz scored the only goal from a bicycle kick, leaving Independiente 15th in the 20-team table on 10 points.
LONG SHOTS
Boca, who face arch-rivals River in their next game, dropped to sixth on 14 points despite going ahead with a looping header from Lucas Viatri in the 33rd minute.
Estudiantes turned the tables as Boca goalkeeper Javier Garcia, brought in after first-choice Mauricio Caranta asked not to play following a run of poor form, misjudged two long-range shots in four minutes.
Diego Galvan collected the ball, cut inside and scored from 30 metres in the 62nd minute before Leandro Benitez took advantage of a badly-placed defensive wall to score from a free kick.
As the Boca players waited for the team bus to leave the ground afterwards, they faced protests from an angry group of around 100 fans who chanted: "You have to beat River".
River coach Diego Simeone was exasperated after his team missed a string of second-half chances against Gimnasia, who were playing their first game under new coach Leonardo Madelon after Guillermo Sangueletti quit on Monday.
"We weren't ruthless at the decisive moments and it's left a bitter taste," said Simeone, whose team are 18th on eight points.
"It troubles me, it hurts, but it's reality."
