East Wednesday marks three years since Elche managed to escape from Segunda B after ascending in the Sports City of Villarreal, giving way to a magical triennium in which he gave a new jumped to First and managed to consolidate in the category.
That defeat (2-1) was one of the sweetest in the history of Elche, since it allowed the entity return to professional football just one year after relegation and it was an economic relief for the entity, in the middle of the financial crisis.
After an irregular season, in which the team was always in the lead, but without offering guarantees, which led to two changes of coaches (Vicente Mir and Josico), the arrival of José Rojo ‘Pacheta'It gave stability and solidity to the team.
In fact, Elche, who finally finished third in the league, only lost one match with Burgos on their bench, precisely that of Villarreal.
Elche reached the second leg of the last tie for promotion with a clear advantage from the first leg, played a week before, (2-0) but without confidence given the enormous potential of the Villarreal subsidiary.
The match, however, was very early on for the Elche team, which after 14 minutes managed to score by means of Benja martinez.
Villarreal B, however, did not stop hovering around the goal and made goalkeeper José Juan the hero of the match. Elche ended up losing 2-1, as they received the second goal in the extension time, pero was able to celebrate a promotion that would end up changing history of the club.
After a year of consolidation in the Second Division, with a good part of the team that achieved promotion, Elche would surprise two seasons ago by sneaking into the promotion promotion and making it up to First after landing Zaragoza and Girona against all odds.
And in the just finished season, despite having little planning time and the lowest budget in the category, the team from Elche, who went 16 consecutive days without winning and virtually dropped to two from the end, managed to force a carom of results that gave him salvation.
Despite the euphoria and the impact of the promotion to Primera, leaders and the environment continue to point to Villarreal as the turning point, since they are aware of how difficult it is to escape from Segunda B, as is happening to other teams of your closest environment.