Fertiberia BM Puerto Sagunto take a giant step towards survival

Fertiberia BM Puerto Sagunto won 30–31 this afternoon against Frigoríficos Morrazo in a very even match between two teams in need of points. The Valencians ultimately took the victory, taking a giant step towards securing virtual survival.

The first half began with the home side highly focused and, despite suffering the first exclusion, Fertiberia held firm on court. Patxi Martí’s team found it easy to score, but after two turnovers they saw Frigoríficos Morrazo move ahead on the scoreboard (6–4). It was not until the tenth minute that Fertiberia, with a numerical advantage, levelled the score at six and got back into the match. Midway through the first half, Fertiberia responded defensively with two consecutive saves from Bruixola, and Moriñigo put the red-and-whites ahead for the first time (8–9) with a quick counter-attack. The home side maintained their intensity in both defence and attack to move two goals ahead again (12–10), prompting a time-out from Patxi Martí. After the time-out, Frigoríficos Morrazo suffered two consecutive exclusions and were left with just four players on court. The red-and-whites took advantage to level at 12. Ultimately, Fertiberia were unlucky in their final attacking moves and went into the dressing rooms one goal behind (14–13).

The second half began with the Galicians committed to attack, thanks to Rosales’s long-range shooting, which pierced the red-and-white goal with ease, and David García’s excellent direction. Fertiberia showed no signs of recovery and the home side continued in the same vein to move ahead (22–19), prompting Patxi Martí to stop the match with a time-out after seeing his players somewhat shaken by the 2–0 run. From that moment, Frigoríficos Morrazo’s advantage disappeared as Fertiberia stepped up the pace in both attack and defence to level the contest at 23. With less than five minutes remaining, the Valencians took the lead (25–28) after increasing their defensive intensity and breaking quickly on the counter-attack. Ultimately, Fertiberia produced a better second half, enabling them to win the match 28–32 and claim two valuable points away from home.

Fertiberia’s next fixture will be the 23rd round of the ASOBAL League against BM Aragón next Saturday, 22 March, from 18:30.

Frigoríficos Morrazo: Simes (1), Gallego, Pousada (2), Amarelle, Rubén Soliño, Jesús Soliño (10), Schmidl, Eijo (3), Mijuskovic, Iglesias (2), Krook, Cerqueira, Rosales (5), Pumar, Muratovic (1) and García (6).

Fertiberia BM Puerto Sagunto: Bruixola, Samuel, Rubén Ruiz, Moriñigo (4), Lluna, Berrios (3), Apelgren (7), Grau (7), Plaza (3), Toni Alegre (3), Nebot, Fernández, Dukic (4), Roque and Dimitrievski.

For Frigoríficos Morrazo, Pousada (2), Eijo (2), Krook, Cerqueira and Rosales were excluded; for Fertiberia BM Puerto Sagunto, Grau (2), Nebot and Fernández were excluded.

Score at five-minute intervals:  3–2, 6–5, 8–7, 9–10, 12–11, 14–13 Half-time 18–17, 20–19, 23–23, 24–25, 25–27, 30–31 Full-time. O Gatañal.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.