Fertiberia earn 2 priceless points after beating Helvetia Anaitasuna

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto secured a hard-fought 37-34 victory over Helvetia Anaitasuna. It was a closely contested match which the red-and-whites fought until the end. The crowd thrilled to Dija's final goals, which finally broke a scoreline that had remained level until the last minute. The red-and-whites thus earn two very important points against a team built to occupy the upper part of the table. They also move out of the relegation places and finish the round in 13th position with 6 points.

The red-and-whites came onto the Ovni's blue court with a winning mentality. The opening minutes left Anaitasuna reeling, thanks to the good work in defence, Bruixola's saves and the attacking contributions of Dija, Cozo, Pozzer and Querín. The Valencian side managed to establish a five-goal lead over their opponents. But from the 20th minute onwards, things began to turn sour for Nogués's men: errors in front of goal and an Anaitasuna side that was tougher in defence and quick on the counter-attack began to reduce the deficit until the scoreboard was level. With all this, they went into half-time with the scoreboard reading 16-17.

After the interval, the visiting side came out strongly and the red-and-whites were not particularly sharp in defence. This allowed the visitors to move three goals ahead. Anaitasuna's joy was short-lived, as Dija and Pozzer's goals brought the scores level again. It was then that the officials showed the Argentinian Querin a dubious red card. Far from collapsing, the red-and-whites found reserves of strength and kept the scores level until the final minutes, when Dija, Corzo and Mirallave's brilliant attacking performances secured two priceless points.

The next match will be on Wednesday at 9 pm against Bidasoa Irún at the iconic Artaleku. They are a European competition side and will be difficult to beat.

Match details:

Fertiberia BM Puerto Sagunto: Jaka (1), Mirallave (5), Leo Querín (1), Óscar Camacho, Adrián Ribes, Guillermo Corzo (8), Iñigo Celorrio, Toni Alegre (2), Dija Cruz (9), Alex Tello, Óscar García (1), Ángel López, Jordi Manero, Alex Pozzer (10)

Helvetia Anaitasuna: Simón, Álvaro Gaston (4), Antonio Bazan (1), Martin, Xabier, Ibai, Mladen (3), Franco Daniel, Chocarro (9), Guillermo José (1), Ander Izquierdo (4), Ander Ugarte (4), Pere Vaquer (5), Leandro Elias (3), Patrik Nicolai, Anderson Da Silva.

Periods: 3-1, 7-3, 10-7, 12-11, 15-14, 16-17, 20-21, 25-25, 26-25, 29-28, 32-30, 37-34

Referees: José Manuel Iniesta and Alberto García. For Fertiberia, Corzo, Manero and Querin (red card) were excluded. For Helvetia Anaitasuna, Ibai Meoki, Mladen (2) and Pere Vaquer were excluded.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.