Fertiberia will seek to give its supporters victory against Nava

Vicent Nogués offers his position to the red-and-white club’s board. The coach regrets that, after taking over a relegated team and returning it to ASOBAL, he now has to leave it in the same situation

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto face Balonmano Nava on Saturday 12 May at 16:30. The match, to be played at the Ovni, corresponds to the penultimate round of the Sacyr ASOBAL League. It will be the final home match, and the team face it having been mathematically relegated. Following last week’s result in Logroño and those of their direct rivals, the red-and-white side were left with no chance of retaining their place in the division. On Sunday, the red-and-white coach, Vicent Nogués, offered his position to the club and has already announced that he will not continue next season.

The coach who led the team to promotion in 2019 departs after giving the team two seasons in the top tier. The first season was unusual, marked by COVID19 and halted in March, but he managed to reach the break with the team ‘safe’. In the second, current season, the consequences of the pandemic have not worked in his favour. Nogués says: ‘On Sunday I called Juanjo Bataller and offered my position to the club and the board because I feel responsible for the team’s relegation to Plata. It has been a very complicated year in which nothing has gone our way: we have had lengthy stoppages, a very tight Wednesday–Saturday schedule and the squad was not designed for that. November and December left the team badly affected, and by the end, for the important matches, we had run out of fuel. That put us into a spiral of nerves and anxiety that we were unable to overcome. There were also significant injuries from the beginning of the season, such as Dija’s, and the Ovni was empty. It is a shame to be left with the frustration of not knowing how things would have gone in a “normal” year. I think all of this is ultimately an excuse because we had a good squad that was not meant to go down, and I feel responsible for it. Hence the decision to seek a change in momentum and reverse the situation.’

‘Now we have to think about the two matches remaining. We still have the match against Nava at home, and we owe it to our supporters and ourselves to try to take the points and say goodbye with some joy at home. I want to thank all the players, everyone who has worked with us, the coaching staff and the board for trusting me, and above all the supporters and the Marea for the way they have always treated me. It is a shame that we have not been able to enjoy them this year’, adds Nogués regarding the two matches they must face despite mathematical relegation.

‘My only wish is for Puerto to return to ASOBAL as soon as possible, which is where it belongs. I am leaving with mixed feelings because I leave the team in the same place where I took it three years ago, when it was relegated. It hurts me particularly that, with me managing the team, three years later we find ourselves in the same situation. I do not know whether our paths will cross again, but I will always be another person from Puerto and I will carry this relegation in my heart. I hope that next year we can once again enjoy this team in the top tier of Spanish handball’, concludes Vicent.

Who can attend the OVNI on Saturday?

The following supporters will be able to enjoy the final league match at the OVNI on Saturday: M0001 to M0471 inclusive and their linked accounts; S0667 to S1048 inclusive and their linked accounts; F0006, F0009, F0019, F0036, F0058, F0066, F0086, F0123, F0136, F0146, F0151 and F0167, and their linked accounts. The match will be the team’s farewell to the Asobal League, which the red-and-white club hopes to return to very soon.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.