A comfortable victory to keep strengthening our home form

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto secured another two points at the Port de Sagunt Pavilion this afternoon by defeating Club Balonmano Alcobendas 29–23 in the third round of the División de Honor Plata Masculina.

The only change to the home side’s starting seven was Juani Villarreal in goal. Every one of Madrid’s opening attacks ended with the referees calling passive play. Two consecutive goals from Carlos Martín de Bolaños opened up the first red-and-white lead, making it 4–1 in the seventh minute. The visitors found openings in the home defence only on the left wing, through Anthony Pinto. Alberto Serradilla’s introduction prompted Club Balonmano Alcobendas’s first timeout at 8–3 in the 11th minute.

Juani Villarreal’s saves and a fired-up Carlos Martín de Bolaños on the wing saw the Valencians’ lead continue to grow. Alcobendas’s attacking inaccuracies forced their coach, Javier Suárez, to call his second timeout in under twenty minutes, with the score at 13–5. At the first sign of his opponent reducing the deficit, and with ideas lacking in attack, Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto coach Toni Malla stopped the match. The score after the first thirty minutes was 16–10.

The second half began with a 3–0 run in the first five minutes, extending the home side’s lead once again and producing the biggest advantage of the match at +9 (19–10). The exchange of goals favoured the home side. As in the first half, with the visitors showing the slightest hope of a comeback, Toni Malla called his second timeout of the match, which had the desired effect on his players.

With the gap appearing almost insurmountable, the Tortosa coach decided to give nearly all sixteen players named in the squad playing time. Paco Ruiz made his home debut, while three players from the Primera Nacional reserve team—Marcos Castañeda, Rodrigo Alba and Paco Joosten—also took to the court; the latter suffered an unfortunate injury in the final action of the match. The home side’s double numerical disadvantage allowed the capital side to slightly reduce the final margin, with the match ending 29–23.

Next weekend, the team will make their second away trip of the campaign to face SCDR Anaitasuna at La Catedral on Sunday 5 October from 18:00, in a match that will conclude the fourth round of the competition.

MATCH DETAILS: 

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto (29): Juani Villarreal (-), Marcos Castañeda (), Paco Joosten (1), Paco Ruiz (-), Rodrigo Alba (-), Jakob Pelko (3), Dani Martínez (-), Gonzalo (-), David García (2), Matheus de Novais (4), Serradilla (2), Capitán (3), Zungri (3), Adrián Blasco (), Carlos Martín (8), Teixidor (3).

Club Balonmano Alcobendas (23): Alejandro Colón (5), Darío Aguado (-), Óscar Moreno (5), Jaime Ignacio Suárez (2), Javier Suárez (-), Pablo Muñoa (-), Sergio Lozano (-), Yago Abad (-), José María Gutiérrez (-), Óscar Ruiz (-), Ramón Fuentes (-), Anthony Pinto (6), David Torrejón (4), Alonso Maidana (1), Alejandro Echevarría (-).

Referees: Álvaro López Novoa and Roberto Argiz Varela.

Exclusions: Matheus de Novais twice; Marcos Castañeda, David García and Antonio Capitán for two minutes, and Toni Malla with a yellow card.

Score progressions: 1–0, 6–3, 11–5, 14–6, 14–8, 16–10 (half-time); 19–10, 23–14, 25–18, 27–19, 29–21 and 29–23 (full-time).

Match information: Match from the third round of the División de Honor Plata Masculina, played at the Port de Sagunt Pavilion in front of approximately 1,400 spectators.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.