MATCH PREVIEW

Sunday 30th March 2008, 16:30hrs
CD JAVEA vs SANTA POLA CF
Campo d'Esports, Javea

Referee
Blas Mayor Perez
Referee Assistants
Samuel Gonzalvez Ripoll
(t.b.c.)
 

THE last time these two teams met, Santa Pola CF brought to a very dramatic end the seven match unbeaten start to the season with a devastating 3-0 win over the rojiblancos on a windswept and decidedly chilly late October morning at the exposed training ground just outside Santa Pola.  The early start did the club no favours and CD Javea looked a helluva long way from the team that had comprehensively beaten UD Horadada at home the previous weekend. Another defeat the following game at home at the hands of Alicante CF "B" saw the side slip away from the leading pack and engage in a disappointing run of just three wins in 11 games. Many will look back at the game against Santa Pola as the first turning point in the club's season, the game in which we all suggested that the team were probably not as good as we might have dared hope and that consolidation (and financial stabiliation) was indeed the more realistic goal.

Santa Pola CF feel like one of those "fallen giants" of the Valencian Communidad who, alongside Pinoso CF, were not so long ago competing for a play-off berth for promotion to the Segunda Division 'B'. But Santa Pola, whose Manolo Garciá stadium holds over 11,000 and is by far the biggest in the Preferente, have hit on leaner times after relegation from the Tercera Division two years ago and, unlike Pinoso who have had to endure a series of near-misses, the side from the Baja Vinalopó have never really looked like bouncing back.

This could of course have something to do with the summer signing of the "mighty" David Perez, affectionately dubbed "Goldenboots" by the Javea faithful when the lumbering giant turned out for the rojiblancos during the first half of the 2005/06 season. David might have had a heart of gold off the pitch but his boots seemed to be filled with lead when he turned out in the red-and-white stripes of CD Javea and he was released during the Christmas break of 2005 to return to UD Altea before eventually heading south to wear the red-and-white stripes of Santa Pola CF. Then, as befits a player derided by a former club's fans, he played a blinder in the game between the two clubs at the end of October and contributed immensely to the heavy defeat that his team inflicted on the rojiblancos. As magnanimous as always, David then chatted amiably with the travelling army after the game and genuinely wished us all well; nice bloke, crap footballer.

Santa Pola's performance during the current campaign has largely produced little to write home about. Being stuffed 5-1 by league leaders UD Horadada just before Christmas hardly put the club into an early festive mood as they looked nervously over their shoulders at the relegation zone. However the side lifted their game after the Christmas break and have lost just twice in the last ten games, both at home to average sides. Worryingly, their away form over the past couple of months has been awesome and includes a 5-3 victory at CD Polop, another side finding form at the moment. Their last six games have produced just six goals but the stats show that, alongside our own rojiblancos, they boast the best offensive record in the league with 17 goals scored away from home whilst CD Javea can claim the best defensive record at home. Something has to give ...

TEAM NEWS

For CD Javea, Aldo is suspended for one game after picking up his fifth caution of the season at UD Horadada and will be forced to sit out this game. The young Argentinian has improved immensely after a decidedly dodgy start to his career in Javea and has proved to become a solid and confident player, both on and off the pitch.

Santa Pola CF will be missing Ruben Mestre Servent, suspended for one game.

STATISTICS

THIS SEASON

Santa Pola CF 3 CD Javea 0 Match Report

Matchday Information