Fertiberia travel to Santander determined to bring the two points back to Puerto de Sagunto

Vicent Nogués: We have to be very focused in defence and make it our stronghold to win the match

Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto handball face Liberbank Balonmano Sin Fin on Saturday 24 April at 6 p.m. The match, to be played at the La Albericia Pavilion, is part of matchday 29 of the Sacyr ASOBAL League and is a genuine relegation battle between two teams fighting to remain in the division. The red-and-white team travel to Santander with twice the motivation because of the final they were unable to play on Saturday at the Ovni against Balonmano Cantas, due to COVID19 cases in the Galician squad. The red-and-white coach will have his full squad available except for Bruna Kozina.

The red-and-white coach, Vicent Nogués, says that Santander will be playing for ‘another final this week, perhaps a more difficult one because it is away from home. It is a match in our league and we absolutely have to pick up points. Our opponents are a team producing very good results, on a good run in their recent home matches, and we have to go there and try to take the points and bring them back to Puerto de Sagunto.’

Regarding the opponents, Vicent Nogués says that ‘They are a team that defend a very solid 6:0 formation, with a strong central defence that they rely on heavily. From there, their backs and wings try to create uncertainty, so we have to choose our passes well and play with plenty of width so that they do not feel comfortable in defence. They also have a fairly fast counter-attack, which we have to work on carefully so that they do not feel comfortable, above all. In attack, they play in a very dynamic, very fast way; we suffered because of that here at home. They are a team with plenty of continuity and are playing good handball. They rely on Lon’s two-on-two play, Darko’s and Nicolás’s long-range shooting, and Xavi Castro’s and Valles’s one-on-one play. These players are having a good season and are proving dangerous. We have to be highly focused on our defensive work and try to make defence our stronghold in order to win the match.’

‘We were unable to play last week, and it is true that some teams have picked up points, but we have the same number of matches left to play as we did the previous week. We absolutely have to win the matches in our league, against the four teams close to us in the table, and we still have to play them. If we get points from those matches, we will have a great chance of staying in the division,’ concludes Nogués regarding the table.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.