Fertiberia drop a point against Nava

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto dropped a point after drawing 25–25 with Nava, following a superb first half in which they built an eight-goal lead. Next Saturday brings another final, against Liberbank Cantabria, in which they must keep picking up points to achieve the season's objective: retaining their status.

The red-and-whites came out all guns blazing on the Ovni's blue court. Ribes was outstanding between the posts, helping Nogués's side, superbly directed from the centre by Dija, gradually build a lead on the scoreboard. They held up very well in both defence and attack until the closing minutes of the first half. Nava's goalkeeper came on and immediately made two consecutive saves, enabling the visitors to cut the deficit and go into half-time 15–12 down.

After the interval, Nava levelled the contest. Lamariano's saves, and the way the visiting team's wingers capitalised on them, saw the red-and-whites surrender the almost eight-goal lead they had built in the first half. The referees, who did not always seem to have their eyes firmly on the action, also helped them with a few decisions that could well have changed the final result. The red-and-white goalkeeping faded, and the match ended all square, just. It could have ended much worse, as the final-second shot might have changed everything.

 Coach Vicent Nogués said after the match “We let a point slip because we were eight goals ahead in the first half, but we must still be thankful because we allowed them the chance to beat us and the final shot was theirs—fortunately it did not go in. We must be grateful for the point we earned, but we need to know how to control matches when we are comfortably ahead and things are going our way. We were very intense in the first half, Ribes made saves, we defended very well and created very clear chances in attack, which we converted. But once Lamariano came on, we suffered from the many saves he made, which tipped the balance and left us playing an ending we should never have had to play.”

 “When David was injured and we found ourselves in these circumstances, everyone had many doubts about the team. Yet the very players everyone doubted have competed in two fiercely contested matches, taking a point from each. Perhaps this one feels like too little and the one in Cangas felt like a lot, but what we have to do now is go to Sin Fin and give everything, continuing with this momentum, which I believe is the one we need,” Nogués concluded.

MATCH DETAILS:

Fertiberia BM Puerto Sagunto: Guillermo Martínez, Jaka (5), Nacho Mirallave (1), Leo Querin (5), Marcos Dorado (1), Camacho, Adrián Ribes, Guillermo Corzo (4), Iñigo Celorrio, Toni Alegre (1), Dija Cruz (4), Alex Tello, Óscar García (1), Ángel López, Alex Pozzer (1).

Viveros Herol Nava: Francisco Javier Bernabeu (2), Miguel Lucas (1), Eduardo Fernández (1), Álvaro José, Agustín Casado (3), Bruno Virseda (2), Dario Ajo (2), Nicola d’Antino (2), Ernesto Sánchez, Carlos Villagran (1), Rodrigo Pérez (5), Andrés Alonso, Antonio Llopis (1), Óscar (2), Yeray Lamariano (1), Adrián Rosales, Oleg Kisselev (2).

Scores by period: 3–1, 7–5, 9–6, 12–7, 14–8, 15–12, 16–13, 18–16, 20–20, 22–22, 24–24, 25–25

Referees: Jordi Ausas and Miguel Florenza. Leo, Marcos, Camacho and Corzo of Fertiberia BM Puerto Sagunto were excluded. Álvaro and Óscar of Nava were also excluded.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.