Portimonense’s away match with Sporting Covilhã became the only Portuguese weekend professional football fixture to fall victim to the adverse weather conditions as a snow-covered pitch forced postponement last Saturday afternoon – the league has set a new date of February 22 for the game to be played but both clubs are currently appealing the decision, stating a preference for a later March 26 repeat.
Despite not playing, and the wasted journey apart, it turned out to be a very good 26th match day for manager Vítor Oliveira’s promotion-chasers as all their main rivals failed to make up ground.
Now with a game in hand, Portimonense retained their five-point advantage at the top of the table following second-placed Aves’ 4-2 defeat at the hands of Benfica B in Lisbon. In addition, third-placed Académica were beaten 2-1 by União da Madeira, thus remaining 16 points adrift, while Santa Clara lost to Gil Vicente allowing both Varzim and Penafiel to overtake the one-time high-fliers from the Azores.
Portimonense returned to action on Wednesday afternoon (after the Resident went to press) when mid-table Vitória de Guimarães B visited the municipal stadium while Aves entertained in-form Gil Vicente. This weekend Portimonense then travel to Cova da Piedade for a Sunday morning televised 11.15am kick-off, with Aves taking on AC Viseu in the afternoon.
In other news, former Portimonense coach Lázaro Oliveira took an important step towards returning to the professional ranks as his new club Farense beat rivals Louletano 2-1 in the opening match of the third division’s eight-team promotion play-off round.
Further afield, ex-Portimonense stars Amilton and Lumor, who left the Algarve for Bavaria during the January transfer window, have so far failed to make an impact as TSV 1860 Munich were knocked out of the German FA Cup by third division Lotte during the last 16 stages of the competition.
By SKIP BANDELE
Photo: Portimonense coach Vítor Oliveira
