MATCH REPORT | CD Jávea 2-1 CDSB Ontinyent

Sunday 12th March 2023
Mike Smith

CD Jávea secured three more vital points in a tough battle against a determined CDSB Ontinyent side on a hot Sunday morning at the Campo d’Esports in Xàbia. Two goals from Luis García, the clear winner for player-of-the match, secured the win whilst a resilient back line worked their socks off to maintain that lead.

The match kicked off at 11.45am under an increasingly hot sun, the spectators packing under the cool shade of the covered part of the main stand. The reason for the earlier kick-off was so that the match wouldn’t coincide with the “baixada” of the town’s treasured image of Jesús Nazareno which would be taking place in the early evening, one of the most traditional and revered acts of the year.

Jávea made the perfect start after 3 minutes. After absorbing some early pressure from the visitors, they forced a throw-in on the right. The ball was collected by Marcos who powered a low ball across the edge of the area which was picked up by Luis García, who skipped between two defenders and fired past the out-stretched arm of the advancing keeper from 12 yards, the ball nestling in the back of the net on the left side.

On 26 minutes Jávea doubled their advantage and deservedly so. A bit of pressure from CDSB was snuffed out and Caturla sent a delightful low clearance from his own area through the midfield which found Luis García ready to pounce. He skipped between two defenders and charged on goal with only the keeper to beat. He kept his nerve and slid the ball past the advancing custodian to make it 2-0.

And then CDSB responded almost immediately to make it 2-1, Cambreta rolling the ball home easily when he seemed to be in an offside position and most of the home players, fans and officials in the ground rose in one to declare it so, only to be waved away by the referee.

And they almost forced the equaliser just before half-time when they forced their first corner of the game, taken by Victor which resulted in a frantic goal-mouth scramble, the keeper stranded on the floor, and a clearance off the line by Mario to maintain that slim lead at the break.

The second-half saw CDSB lift their game and the referee get his knickers in a twist about the stadium clock, which admittedly hasn’t been running perfectly for some months, and he demanded that it was switched off, resulting in bizarre moments when the stadium announcer would give the number of minutes played “for the benefit of our fans”.

Luis García had a golden opportunity to claim a hat-trick within minutes of the restart when a delightful chip from Javi over the defensive line found the tricky midfielder in acres of space but his own chip over the advancing keeper was just a little too strong and dropped beyond the crossbar.

CDSB applied pressure, forcing Jávea to work hard to defend their lead. Eight minutes to go (we knew that, the stadium announcer told us), a tough but rather innocuous challenge from Caturla was judged to be a challenge too much for the referee, who dismissed the veteran defender with a second yellow.

The visitors worked hard to try and take advantage of having that extra man for the final few minutes but Jávea had their moments and substitute Umar might have made a dream start with his first touch but his effort was blocked by desperate defending. And then, just before the final whistle, CDSB pushed hard and forced a unlikely free-kick, the resulting shot well saved on the line by Aaron.

The win means CD Jávea climb to 10th position and five points adrift of that magical top eight.

Why is a top eight spot important?

In October 2022, the 55 clubs of the Regional Preferente voted to create a new regional tier – the Lliga Comunitat – which will become the highest division in the Comunidad Valenciana and will consist of two groups of 16 teams. It will begin next season – 2023-2024 – and will be the feeder division into the Tercera Federación, the bottom tier of the national pyramid system. The group winners would win automatic promotion whilst the second and third placed teams in each group would play-off for the remaining two spots. The bottom three in each group will be relegated to the Primera FFCV.

The current Regional Preferente will become the Primera FFCV and consist of four groups as it does now. The group winners would win automatic promotion to the Lliga Comunitat whilst the two remaining spots will be claimed by the winners of the play-offs between the runners-up in each group. The bottom three in each group will be relegated to the Segona FFCV. The bottom tier will be renamed Tercera FFCV.

In order to form the two groups of the Lliga Comunitat, it was agreed that the top eight teams of the current four groups of the Regional Preferente would qualify, except those four teams who win promotion to the Tercera Federación through the end-of-season play-offs; they will be replaced by those teams relegated from the higher division.