The derby slips away after a poor start

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto were unable to win the first derby of the year in the División de Honor Plata Masculina against Fundación Agustinos de Alicante, suffering a 27–21 defeat in the fifth round of the competition.

Although the match began with the first leads going to the red-and-whites (0–1, 1–2 and 2–3), the home side quickly turned things around with a 4–0 run, changing the score from 2–3 to 6–3 and forcing the visiting coach to call a timeout in the ninth minute. Alicante’s goals mainly came down the left, with wing player Daniel Reinante already having scored four times shortly after the halfway point of the first half.

Toni Malla called another timeout in the 17th minute, as his side had remained stuck on three goals for more than fourteen minutes in attack (from the fourth to the 18th minute). To make matters worse, Carlos Martín was shown a straight red card before the 26th minute. The deficit, which reached six goals (13–7 and 14–8), was reduced slightly, with the teams going into half-time at 14–10.

After emerging from the changing rooms, Fundación Agustinos de Alicante’s front-line players, Javier Bodí and Dí​dac Talens, once again created significant gaps in their favour, while the Valencian side tried to stay in the match through Matheus de Novais. The 20–15 score recorded in the 45th minute left the visitors without any timeouts with fifteen minutes still to play.

The final exchange of goals favoured the home side, and despite attempts to make the scoreline more respectable, the match ended 27–21. The positive note was Alex Pozzer, who wore the red-and-white colours in an official match again after four years.

Next weekend, the first team will play in front of their supporters again after two consecutive away trips. They will face Club Cisne Colegio Los Sauces in the sixth round of the regular league on Saturday 18th from 18:30 at the Port de Sagunt Pavilion.

MATCH DETAILS: 

Fundación Agustinos Alicante (27): David Jiménez (1), Daniel Reinante (6), Álvaro García (1), David Quiles (6), Esteban Boix (-), Juande Linares (2), Lorenzo Poyato (-), Juan Pedro Espinosa (2), Hugo Ponce de León (-), Dario Suárez (2), Alberto González (-), Borja Maho (1), Javier Bodí (4), Dí​dac Talens (2), Guillermo Soler (-), Tomás Lautaro (-).

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto (21): Juani Villarreal (-), Marcos Castañeda (-), Paco Ruiz (2), Rodrigo Alba (-), Jakob Pelko (3), Dani Martínez (-), Pozzer (2), Arnau Fernández (1), Gonzalo (1), David García (-), Matheus de Novais (5), Serradilla (1), Capitán (4), Zungri (-), Carlos Martín (1), Teixidor (1).

Referees: Adrián Aroca Vidal and Vlad Virgil Cocinschi.

Exclusions: Jakob Pelko twice; David Jiménez, Alberto González, Javier Bodí, Guillermo Soler and Antonio Capitán for two minutes, and Carlos Martín with a red card.

Score progressions: 3–3, 6–3, 7–3, 8–5, 11–7, 14–10 (half-time); 16–12, 18–13, 20–15, 22–17, 24–19 and 27–21 (full-time).

Match information: Match from the fifth round of the División de Honor Plata Masculina, played at the Colegio San Agustín Pavilion.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.