Portimonense failed to close the gap on their rivals at the top of the table as last Sunday’s home match against Sporting Braga B ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Algarvean promotion hopefuls did not ‘turn up’ for the first half and were fortunate not to have fallen behind by the interval as the visitors dominated.
A great save from goal keeper Márcio Ramos on the half hour prevented Platini from converting a penalty unneccessarily given away by Nelsinho, but a second yellow card for the Brazilian just after the re-start resulted in his dismissal for the third time this season.
Against the odds ten-man Portimonense began to improve thereafter and grabbed the lead through Mazola on the hour mark. Zambujo should then have sealed a previously unlikely looking victory but his glaring miss was duly punished by Thales shortly afterwards. As the final minutes ticked away, Kappel had several opportunities to claim victory for Braga and ultimately manager Lázaro Oliveira’s men were lucky to escape with a point.
Further north, the clash between Penafiel and Moreirense also ended at one a piece to leave the top three pecking order unchanged (excluding Porto and Benfica B teams), with Aves, now one point behind Portimonense in fourth following a 1-0 success over Santa Clara, the greatest beneficiaries.
Portimonense travel to Covilhã this Sunday in search of victory, with only five games remaining thereafter.
By Skip Bandele
