Resilience brings two points in Oviedo

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto beat Confía Base Oviedo 21-26 at the Vallobín Sports Centre, despite having to recover from a difficult second half, in a match corresponding to matchday 23 of the Men's División de Honor Plata Masculina.

The match began with the red and whites making numerous mistakes in attack, losing possession three times in the opening three minutes. These were offset by Juani Villarreal's saves, preventing the home side from opening up an early gap. Antonio Capitán's first two-minute suspension in the fifth minute was not exploited by the Oviedo side; indeed, the spell ended 1-2 in favour of the visitors. Goals from Javier Olivares and Carlos Martín made it 3-6 in the 12th minute, when Daniel Bandrés called his first timeout.

The timeout appeared to have the desired effect, as the Asturians reduced the deficit from 3-6 to 5-6. However, the Sagunto side quickly enjoyed another maximum lead of +4 (5-9), led by a Carlos Martín who was 100% effective with his shots. Soon afterwards, a new maximum of +5 (6-11) arrived in the 24th minute, thanks to Juani Villarreal, who went into the break with eight saves (including a penalty), and Arnau Fernández's long-range shooting, which saw him reach half-time with four goals to his name. The score at the break was 8-12.

After the restart, Javier Olivares continued to direct his teammates excellently from centre-back, scoring twice in the opening two minutes. During another numerical disadvantage, the visitors extended their lead to new maximums of +6 (9-15) and +7 (9-16), forcing the Asturian side's coach to stop the game in the 35th minute. The +8 (9-17) seemed decisive, but a 6-0 run brought the home side fully back into the match midway through the second half. Oriol Teixidor ended his team's scoring drought, during which they had remained stuck on 17 goals.

With six minutes remaining, a new match began within the match, as the home side levelled at 20 goals apiece. Paco Ruiz took responsibility from seven metres and converted three consecutive penalties. A further save from Juani Villarreal and the double numerical disadvantage faced by Oviedo in the final two minutes halted their attempt at an epic comeback. With this double numerical advantage, the Comunitat Valenciana side extended their lead to the final score of 21-26.

With this latest victory, Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto will remain in second place in the table for another week, with a total of 34 points. Their next match will be next Saturday the 14th, when they host Trops Málaga at the Port de Sagunt Pavilion from 18:30.

MATCH DETAILS:

Confía Base Oviedo (21): Juan Gamallo (-), Raúl Blanco (2), Javier Colías (1), Joaquín Pérez (1), Tomás Bautista (-), Pablo Fernández (5), David Pulgar (-), Rubén Menéndez (-), Hélio Pina (1), Jorge Ureña (1), Gonzalo Pulgar (1), Elián Goux (4), Javier Sánz (3), Emiliano Franceschetti (2), Juan Prieto (-).

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto (26): Juani Villarreal (-), Marcos Castañeda (-), Olivares (4), Francisco Ruiz (4), Jakob Pelko (1), Dani Martínez (-), Pozzer (-), Arnau Fernández (5), Gonzalo (-), David García (-), Matheus de Novais (-), Macrino Pérez (-), Serradilla (1), Capitán (4), Carlos Martín (5), Teixidor (2).

Referees: Óscar Gutiérrez Sobrino and Jorge Monjo Ortega.

Suspensions: Javier Colías twice; Hélio Pina, Emiliano Franceschetti, Antonio Capitán, Carlos Martín and Oriol Teixidor received two-minute suspensions, while Emiliano Franceschetti, Ricardo Díez, Alex Pozzer and Fernando Calero received yellow cards.

Scores by period: 1-1, 3-4, 4-6, 5-9, 6-11, 8-12 (half-time); 9-15, 12-17, 15-18, 17-20 20-20 and 21-26 (full-time).

Incidents: Matchday 23 fixture in the Men's División de Honor Plata Masculina, played at the Vallobín Sports Centre.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.