One last dance at home with a happy ending

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto secured the two points this evening after beating Trops Málaga 31-27 at the Port de Sagunt Pavilion, in a match corresponding to the penultimate round of the regular season in the Men's División de Honor Plata.

The match began with two changes to the Portuenses' starting seven: Mario Rodríguez in goal and Seke Gallart on the left wing. The first four red-and-white goals came from long-range efforts by Joaquín Barceló and Guilherme Leonel. Two more goals on the counter, prompted by the visitors' turnovers, led Trops Málaga coach Quino Soler to call his first time-out in the eighth minute, with the score at 6-3. The home side's lead reached +5 in the 13th minute, when the score was 9-4.

The Málaga side reduced the deficit thanks to saves by their goalkeeper, Juani Villarreal, moving from 9-4 to 9-7. Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto, relying mainly on their defence and even managing not to concede while numerically disadvantaged, put together a 5-0 run (from 9-7 to 13-7), prompting another stoppage in play when the visitors called their second time-out in the 22nd minute. The time-out served to reduce the deficit slightly. The half-time score was 15-10.

The teams emerged from the dressing room to exchange goals, but Mario Rodríguez immediately halted the flow with his saves. Alberto Castro's two-minute suspension was exploited by the home side, who established their biggest lead at 21-13 in the 40th minute, when the Andalusians called their final time-out.

The biggest gap came in the 45th minute, when goals from Matheus de Novais and Álex Plaza made it 25-16. Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto coach Toni Malla called his second time-out around the 50th minute in response to Trops Málaga's attempted comeback. The final score was 31-27.

Following Blendio Sinfín's 35-23 victory over Valinox Novás, Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto now know that they will enter the promotion phase to the Liga Plenitude Asobal as fifth-placed finishers. On Saturday 17 May, they will play the final round of the regular season against already relegated Balonmano Dólmenes Antequera from 19:00 at the Fernando Argüelles Municipal Pavilion.

MATCH DETAILS: 

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto (31):  Ximo (-), Guilherme Leonel (3), Del Valle (-), Olba (2), Nico Rey (2), Daniel Martínez (-), Álex Plaza (4), Barceló (1), Arnau Fernández (2), Dusan Trifkovic (4), David García (2), Mario (-), Matheus (5), Capitán (3), Seke (2), Torío (1).

Trops Málaga (27): Jesús Arca (4), Eduardo Escobedo (-), Pablo Fernández (-), Juan Manuel Cabrera (2), José Consuegra (4), Jorge Villamarín (-), Nacho Moya (4), Juani Villarreal (-), Henrique Petter (-), Adrián Portela (3), Javier Camas (1), Manuel Díaz (3), David Soriano (1), Diego Pérez (2), Alberto Castro (3), Pablo Quintero (-).

Referees: Cristian Da Silva Barbadaes and Tomás Luis García Álvarez.

Suspensions: Antonio Capitán, José Consuegra, Álvaro del Valle, David García, Alberto Castro, David Soriano and Arnau Fernández received two-minute suspensions, while Quino Soler was shown a yellow card.

Scoring runs: 2-2, 7-3, 9-6, 12-7, 14-8, 15-10 (half-time); 17-13, 20-13, 24-16, 26-21, 28-24 and 31-27 (full-time).

Attendance: Match from the 29th round of the Men's División de Honor Plata, played at the Port de Sagunt Pavilion in front of approximately 1,300 spectators.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.