MATCH REPORT | CD Jávea 9-1 CF Cullera

Monday 8th May 2023
Mike Smith

A bumper crowd enjoyed a bumper scoreline at the Campo d’Esports Municipal as CD Jávea ran riot against lowly Cullera CF. And with both UD Calpe and UD Carcaixent losing, the rojiblancos now have a five point cushion with two games left to play. Back in January, when the club was sitting second from bottom, a TOP 8 spot looked impossible. In stepped head coach Julio Ivorra and the change of fortune has been truly stunning.

The mood was set before the game when the young musicians of the Centre Artístic de Musical de Xàbia took to the pitch to play some music, conducted by Miriam Llerena Martín, before the two sides walked out of the tunnel to generous applause from the 700 or so who had turned out to become that 12th man.

In truth, they could take a break from their responsibilities as CD Jávea stormed into a three goal lead in the first quarter of an hour through goals from the tricky winger Luis García, defender Mario, his first for the club, and striker José Cabo, who took his total to seven for the season, joining Javi Hernández at the top of the scoring chart for the season.

The visitors pulled one back on 30 minutes through their top scorer Sergio Cervero, his tenth of the campaign, before Adrián Ramís restored the three goal cushion two minutes later. Just before the break, Ramís scored the fifth, his seventh of the season, to make it 5-1 and the teams returned to the changing rooms in distinctively different moods.

Within five minutes of the second half, Carlos made it six, pouncing on the loose ball after the keeper had parried away a shot from Elian. On 73 minutes, substitute Umar Sancho scored his first senior goal for club to make it seven, converting a great cross from Tomás Calvo beyond the keeper and into the net.

On 76 minutes, substitute Rubén Ortolà scored the eighth, his fourth of the season, with a fine low shot before Mario made it nine on 85 minutes. Substitute Adrián Gil might have made it double figures just before full-time but his free-kick sailed just wide of the post. Good job too, since the stadium’s scoreboard can’t deal with double digit scorelines.

The win consolidates CD Jávea’s position in the TOP 8, five points ahead of UD Carcaixent, UD Calpe and CE La Font d’En Carròs, with two games to play. Next weekend, the rojiblancos travel to Tavernes de la Valldigna and a point should confirm a place in next season’s inaugural Lliga Comunitat.

Remaining Games

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.