CD Jávea’s day of destiny: one point away from the first championship for 35 years

This Sunday, CD Jávea make the long journey south to Callosa de Segura for the final match of the regular season knowing that a draw would be enough to become champions of Group 4 of the Primera FFCV and win automatic promotion back to the elite Lliga Comunitat at the first attempt. If they succeed, it will be first title for the club for 35 years.

At the end of the 1989/1990 season, CD Jávea finished top of the Regional Preferente Grup Sur and won promotion to the Third Division, then the fourth tier in the national system in Spain, kicking off arguably the club’s “golden era” in the first half of the Nineties.

That successful season had followed three successive seasons of finishing 8th in the Regional Preferente after winning promotion from the Primera Regional in 1985/1986. The opening five games of the 1989/1990 saw three victories, including a 7-0 thrashing at home of Crevillente Deportivo, the biggest win of the season, a draw and a defeat, a 0-2 reverse away at CD Catral who would dominate the table for much of the opening half of the season, leaving the rojiblancos in third spot but just a point off the top of the table.

A narrow 0-1 defeat at CD Thader in late October would be the club’s last defeat for almost five months as CD Jávea, coached by Paco Berenguer, embarked on a run of record 21 games without defeat which lifted them into top spot in early February. However, CD Catral had kept pace with the rojiblancos, always within a couple of points of reclaiming top spot, and with the better head-to-head record between the two clubs should they finish on the same points. Thus, they entered the final game of the season two points apart (in the season when it was still two points for a win) and with the knowledge that a single point for CD Jávea would secure the title.

A 0-1 defeat for CD Catral at Crevillente Deportivo and a 5-2 home win for CD Jávea over Novelda CF secured the championship for the latter by four points. The rojiblancos claimed 22 wins in 34 games, a 65% win percentage, the third-best behind the club’s previous two promotion campaigns – 1985/1986 (66%) and 1965/1966 (71%) – and conceded just 15 goals, the best defensive season in the club’s history.

The following season, CD Jávea achieved the highest ever position in the Spanish pyramid system, finishing third in Group 6 (Sur) of the Tercera División, one point behind CD Dénia. However, the rojiblancos had led the table for much of the opening half of the season, enjoying a run of just two defeats in 18 games before a post-Christmas dip in form saw the club claim just four wins in 12 games and drop to fourth. A late season rally lifted the club into second spot with two games remaining, but a 1-1 draw at UD Canals and a 1-0 win for CD Dénia at home to UD Horadada in the penultimate round of games allowed the dianense side to reclaim second spot and then secure it with a 1-0 win away at L’Olleria CF in the final game of the season to win a place in the play-offs (they finished third in Group C1 and failed to win promotion; they would be relegated back into the regionals the following season).