Fertiberia BM Puerto Sagunto seek victory in Cangas after a difficult journey

Fertiberia BM Puerto Sagunto begin the second half of the Liga Asobal this Saturday at 18:30 at the O’Gatañal Pavilion against Frigoríficos del Morrazo BM Cangas.

The Valencian team travelled by coach overnight from Thursday to Friday, with more than twelve hours of travel and the snowstorm affecting northern Spain accompanying the expedition. Pachi Martí, aware of how demanding the longest journey of the season is, with 987 km to cover, preferred to make it after Thursday afternoon’s training session, allowing the team to rest in Galicia on the night before the match.

The red-and-whites travel without their captain Rubén Ruiz due to work commitments, and without their juniors Toni Alegre and Diego Roque because of university examinations. The rest of the squad are fit to play, following Nacho Plaza’s recovery from appendicitis surgery, which kept him out for the final part of the first half of the season. Fertiberia are eighth, just two points behind their opponents Cangas, who won the first league meeting at the Ovni. However, the statistics at O’Gatañal favour the Valencians, as Fertiberia won the previous Asobal meetings there.

Cangas, for their part, are waiting on Edu Salazar’s fitness, while their coach Pillo has said in various media outlets: “This match will have nothing to do with the first half-season meeting. Puerto Sagunto had brought in many new players and they are now settled in.”

On the Valencian side, Pachi Martí says: “O’Gatañal is one of the hottest venues in Spanish handball. We will face a Cangas side recovered from the effort and eager to claim the first two points, which would make them stronger than in the second half of last season. We have to improve our defensive performance, because that is the biggest blemish on our excellent first half. We score plenty of goals, but we do not defend well, despite having the goalkeeper with the most saves in the league. We work hard on defence but do not achieve results at the back. Cangas is a good place to reinforce our hopes of reaching the top end of the table.”

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.