November Marathon Leaves Hércules in Limbo and with a Full Infirmary

Rubén Torrecilla had reasons to fear the marathon of matches that Hércules had to play this November due to the DANA postponements. This accumulation of games has resulted in a clearly negative outcome for the team, which has lost four out of the five matches played, in addition to seeing key players fall to injuries.

This stretch of the calendar, compared to the Tourmalet climb by Hércules' own coach, has seen the team go from being on the brink of leadership to being mid-table, three points from relegation and the same distance from the promotion playoffs.

Hércules started this phase of the competition poorly on November 10 in Fuenlabrada, where they were defeated (2-1) despite taking the lead in the second half.

Four days later, the Alicante team, after two suspensions, finally debuted in the Cup against Ejea, a lower-tier opponent, against whom they lost, also putting on a poor display (1-0).

With barely any time to recover, Hércules faced Villarreal's reserve team on November 17, who won at Rico Pérez (0-2) and set off all the alarms.

Three days later, Hércules hosted Marbella in a match postponed due to the DANA. Torrecilla's team found their only joy by defeating the Malaga side (2-1) in a strong team performance featuring last year's players.

The victory boosted Hércules, who had the chance to reconnect with the top zone with a positive result in Huelva. However, Hércules repeated the script from the Fuenlabrada match and, after taking the lead in the second half thanks to Coscia's goal, failed to protect the result by conceding two goals in the final minutes.

These poor results have been accompanied by injuries to key players for the Alicante team, such as their top scorer Oriol Soldevila, with a broken toe; midfielder Mario García, with a muscle tear, in addition to leaving several players fatigued and on the verge of injury due to the accumulation of minutes and kilometers. Furthermore, full-back Abraham del Moral left the field on a stretcher on Sunday, while Artiles and Nico also requested substitutions.

Hércules will have the opportunity to redirect their situation next Sunday (Rico Pérez, 12:00) against Sevilla's reserve team, a team just three points behind the Alicante side and marking the relegation zone.