The dream within reach of Frontignan Thau Handball

Le FTHB, une bande de fous qui avance malgré tous les obstacles d’une saison difficile. MIDI LIBRE – Jérôme Belluire

The FTHB welcomes Pontault-Combault this Tuesday, May 21 at 8 p.m., with a view of the Final Four.

It was a surprise last season. For the first adventure in its history in Proligue, Frontignan Thau Handball was invited to the playoffs. But the blueberry's luck obviously had nothing to do with it.

Moving Mountains

This Tuesday evening, in a sold-out Henri-Ferrari room once again, Asier Antonio's band will actually open its second consecutive playoff campaign. Without anyone, this time, being surprised. And yet, in this championship with some fine teams, history was not written in advance.

With one of the smallest budgets in the Proligue, the Hérault club has the particularity of being able to move mountains, like this Coupe de France match where it was able to compete with the great PSG of the Karabatic brothers, children of the country. But also to shine in adversity. This was the case last year, it is more so this year.

Doubly sanctioned

The team could not have recovered from the sanction imposed by the CNACG during the year. But the withdrawal of three points in the ranking, linked to a forecast deficit of 120,000 euros, did not clip the wings of the Muscatiers. Threatened with losing their ticket to the playoffs, Ayhan Alexandre and his band of madmen stepped on the accelerator to complete the regular phase with only one defeat in the last eight days.

And again, this record should have been better without two big refereeing errors… In Istres, for the 27th day, Adria Leon was denied the winning goal at the last second even though the ball had clearly crossed the line. Then, two days later, the FTHB left Nancy defeated while two flagrant defensive errors were committed by the locals, who then scored in the empty goal at the buzzer.

As if it’s the last

Despite all these obstacles, the Frontignanais continue to move forward with their heads held high. This evening, they will meet Pontault-Combault for a remake of the 2023 playoffs. The step was too high last year, but a long way has been made since then. Although they finished the regular phase in third place, the Parisian suburbanites have already been beaten twice by the Héraultais…

The dream is within reach, but Asier Antonio and his people will not change anything in their habits. « In the regular phase, we only planned on the next match, or even on a series of three », confirms the Frontignan coach. « There, we don't even think about the return match (Editor's note: this Friday May 24). And the Final Four, we'll think about it when we qualify. For now, we just have to be able to face Pontault-Combault, who is a well-built and experienced team. We won't waste half a second thinking about what's next. We're just going to play this match as if it were the last of the season. »

I subscribe to read more