Fertiberia aim to win the derby in Alicante against one of their closest rivals

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The clash is much more than a derby; the points in Alicante are worth their weight in gold for both teams, both for the standings in this first phase and for those in the second
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Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto play on Sunday 13 February at 12 noon at the Pitiu Rochel in the Comunitat derby against Eón Horneo Alicante. The match, corresponding to the 16th round of the División de Honor Plata, will be much more than a derby, as it pits two direct promotion rivals against each other for promotion to Asobal. If they beat the Alicante side, the red-and-whites will overtake them in the table and would be almost certain to qualify for the play-off to return to Asobal. Furthermore, the points earned against the group’s top five count double towards the second phase of the league, contested by the teams qualified to return to the top division.

The red-and-white coach, Toni Malla, said regarding the derby preparations: ‘A new week of work after a good win against Sant Quirze. To be honest, it was quite difficult for us against a good opponent, but you can already see that the players have more energy because we had been working at a very demanding pace for many weeks. This week has been very good in terms of training, and we are already preparing for the match with the aim of securing a place in the top five, which is the main objective of the season at the moment, and we are not going to lose sight of it.’

Regarding the Alicante team, Malla added: ‘We will face a very dangerous team with great players and a major project. It is clear that they are ahead of us, but it will obviously be a difficult match. I do not need to list their strengths because we all know them: players such as Novais and David Jiménez, and a goalkeeper in Pavel who is in spectacular form. Great finishers such as our former player Mirallave. It is going to be a very difficult match, but we come into it on a good run and have to trust the work of the lads. Our intention is to pick up points, to secure qualification as soon as possible, and then we will see and do the maths to find out whether we go through with this number of points or another. From here on, respect for the opposition, humility and hard work to collect the points.’

‘This week, one of the players was telling me that these points are important because they carry over into the second phase, but as a coach I want to focus my squad on the fact that the important thing is to collect points. We have one point left to mathematically secure qualification after Ibiza drew with Sarrià yesterday. That is what we are focusing on: collecting that point. We have six points still available and, by getting one, we will mathematically qualify. After that, we will see how many points we go through with, if any. It is absolutely vital that we pick up points this weekend,’ Malla concluded regarding the importance of the points available against Eón Horneo Alicante.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.