Many of the options to achieve promotion to the Men's Division of Honor Plata depended on Saturday afternoon's match, where two of the top favorites to be in the second highest category of Spanish men's handball next season faced each other. LandBit Lanzarote Ciudad de Arrecife overcame all the adversities they encountered on the court, suffering two disqualifications with red cards, and ended up winning by the narrowest of margins against Balonmano Soria to celebrate the promotion.
The first minutes of the match were marked by equality on the court, with two teams offering a tough defense and where attacks had to be quite elaborate. The 6:0 defense of LandBit Lanzarote
Ciudad de Arrecife was punished with several seven-meter actions, and the Brazilian Marcos Vinicius proved unstoppable from the seven-meter line to score for Balonmano Soria.
LandBit Lanzarote Ciudad de Arrecife took the lead for the first time on the scoreboard after the halfway point of the first half, with Javi Aragón scoring (6-7). From that moment on, a series of more than questionable decisions by the referees of the match took San José Obrero out of the game. Óscar Silva was disqualified with a red card for a harsh action in defense, and coach Samuel Trives was also disqualified minutes later for protesting.
Balonmano Soria took advantage of the opponent's moments of uncertainty to gain a four-goal lead, the largest up to that point (11-7). LandBit Lanzarote recovered, and in the final minutes of the first half, Miguel Laguna, Ander Iriarte, and Acoidán Martín scored to make it 13-12 at halftime. Acoidán Martín tied the match in the first action of the second half, and everything started again. Balonmano Soria managed to have several two-goal leads in this second half, but LandBit Lanzarote never broke down. With eight minutes left in the match, goals from Álvaro Torres and Ángel Iglesias put the Lanzarote team two goals ahead (22-24).
The final minutes of the match were going to be truly heart-stopping, and time was moving very slowly for the interests of LandBit Lanzarote Ciudad de Arrecife. Balonmano Soria had several attacks to tie the score, and San José Obrero could have sealed the match in several offensive actions. The score was not going to move in the last five minutes, and the match ended with a score of 24-25.
LandBit Lanzarote Ciudad de Arrecife took a giant step towards achieving promotion, and even at the end of Saturday afternoon, they were able to mathematically celebrate their promotion to the Men's Division of Honor Plata. Balonmano La Roca's victory against CB Romo allows them to be a new Plata team with one match remaining in the promotion phase. LandBit Lanzarote Ciudad de Arrecife will compete in the Men's Division of Honor Plata in the season in which it celebrates its 50th anniversary as a club. A historic event for a San José Obrero that returns to the second highest category of Spanish men's handball.
Technical Sheet
Balonmano Soria (24): Francisco Revuelta, Jeremy Figueredo (2), Pablo Rodríguez (4), Sergio Sarasola, Francisco García (4), Joaquín Lora (1) and Julián Rasero -initial team- Roberto Antón, Vinicius Assumpção (9), Daniel Vallejo, Marcos García (1), Ignacio Tomás López, Adrián Juarez, Víctor Sanz (1), Ferrán Prieto (1), Ibrahim Sambe.
Coach: Jordi Lluelles
LandBit Lanzarote Ciudad de Arrecife (25): Vicente González, Joel Armas (3), Acoidán Martín (4), Javier Aragón (5), Ander Iriarte (5), Miguel Laguna (2), Ángel Iglesias (3) -initial team- Javi de la Cruz, Rafa Robayna (1), Joel Peraza, Abián Martín, Marcos Santiago (1), Aday González, Óscar Silva, Álvaro Torres (1) and Asier Morillas. Coach: Samuel Trives
Partial scores every 5 minutes: 2-1, 4-2, 5-5, 8-7, 12-9, 13-12 (halftime) 15-14, 17-17, 19-19, 21-21, 24-25, 24-25 (final)
Referees: Beatriz del Valle Encuentra and Patricia del Valle Encuentra.
Óscar Silva was disqualified with a red card in the 19th minute and coach Samuel Trives in the 21st minute, for LandBit Lanzarote. Julián Rasero (2) and Ignacio López (1) were excluded for Balonmano Soria, and Miguel Laguna (2) and coach Samuel Trives (1) were excluded for LandBit Lanzarote Ciudad de Arrecife.
Incidents: San Andrés Pavilion. Match corresponding to the second day of the Promotion Phase to the Liga Guerreras Iberdrola.
