At Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto, fortune turns sour in Guadalajara

Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto lost 29–28 to BM Guadalajara with a Bozalongo goal with 3 seconds remaining

 

Today, fortune turned sour. If Fertiberia scraped a point at the last gasp against Bada Huesca on Saturday, today they had a taste of their own medicine and lost a match in the same circumstances.

And it could not have been any other way: an extremely even match, shaped by both the successes and the errors that brought the opposition into the game, had to be decided by a fortunate action to unsettle the balance created by both teams’ play.

The match began in exactly that fashion. Fertiberia’s turnovers led to lethal purple counter-attacks, while defensive lapses in settled play allowed Corzo to fire his cannon; Hombrados’ saves were answered by Bruixola. In those circumstances, the 16–14 lead—two goals in favour of the home side—actually seemed excessive at half-time.

The second half followed a similar pattern, but with two long spells of disparity. The purple team started more sharply, and Sorrentino’s injury in the first half meant that the score showed the first significant purple advantage: 18–14 in the third minute of the second half. It could have been five if Bruixola had not saved Bozalongo’s shot, which would have made it 19–14. But that did not happen, and the balance then shifted. Hombrados endured a difficult spell that even led to his substitution, ultimately to Fertiberia’s detriment, as Barbero finished with a 53% save rate. However, while Montes held on and considered the change, the red-and-whites bombarded the purple goal to make it 20–20 in the 13th minute of the second half. Equality would prevail thereafter through a succession of exchanges, with Corzo doing what he does best for the visitors—9 goals and top scorer—and Bozalongo making the most of his attacking minutes to showcase his arm with 8. Their teammates also contributed: Pozzer supported Corzo with a perfect 5 from 5, while Juande Linares joined the red-and-white celebrations for the first time, producing his best performance since arriving with another 5 goals. Guadalajara added Bozalongo and Barbero to the honours list, along with Moya del Saz, who had more minutes than usual today and tormented his former team with 4 from 5 shots.

And so the final minute arrived, with a cluster of errors from both sides allowing Pocholo to level at 29–29.30, before Bozalongo ruined the Valencians’ dreams of eighth place at the very last moment.

Milos stated that “We played another extremely tough match, but I want to say that we played with few players and made an enormous effort. I cannot reproach most of the players for anything; I do think one or two failed to perform, although that may be due to accumulated fatigue.” There will now be a wait until Saturday the 4th at 17:30, when the league will conclude at the Ovni against BM Sinfín.

  Match details Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto: Bruixola (24%), Ibrahim and Chueca. Rubén (4), Sladic (1), Pocholo (3), Tarrasó (1), Corzo (9), Pozzer (5), Alegre, Nebot, Angel, Juande (5), Duckic and Sorrentino. BM Guadalajara: Hombrados (26%) and Barbero (53%). Parra (1), Mellado (1), Marquez (4), Montoya, Lopez Rey (3), Levente (2), Bozalongo (8), Escolaza, Fuentes (1), Rocha (3), Iker Antonio (1), Moya (4), Sedano and Redondo (1) Officials: Fernandez and Mohedano. Levente, Bozalongo and Redondo were excluded for Guadalajara, while Pozzer and Angel were excluded for Fertiberia. Score every five minutes: 3–2, 4–5, 8–6, 11–9, 13–12, 16–14. Half-time. 19–15, 19–18, 21–20, 23–22, 25–25, 29–28. Full-time. David Santamaria Pavilion, Guadalajara. 900 spectators. Match corresponding to the 28th round of the Bahaus Asobal League.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.