By Chris Wright
A third successive away win, this time 2-1 at Beira-Mar, ensured Olhanense’s season finished on a high.
A record points tally of thirty-nine and eighth place in Liga ZON Sagres is a remarkable achievement for a club with the lowest playing budget in the league.
Two defensive lapses, the first a howler by keeper Rui Rego, presented the visitors with a two goal lead. Jander scored his first goal for the club after half-an-hour and Dady added the second shortly after the break. This was the Cape Verde international’s eighth goal of the season.
Beira-Mar are a compact side and with their high percentage of possession can count themselves unlucky to have been behind. They did reduce the arrears with ten minutes to go when Nildo scored after good work by Abel Camara.
With a couple of minutes to go, Mauricio received his marching-orders, for a second yellow card, but Olhanense hung-on to take all three points. Salvador Agra, playing his last game before moving to Real Betis (Spain), was once again ‘Man-of-the-Match’ with his incisive counter-attacks.
Olhanense have notched-up twenty-three of their points away from home and a more productive home form, only three wins, could have propelled the Algarve side to a top six finish.
Young manager Sérgio Conceição – this is his first top-flight coaching appointment – said: “We are delighted to have left here with a win, and I want to thank these supporters and all the people of Olhanense for all the love they gave me. I have no words to describe them. They are fantastic! “.
INS AND OUTS
The budget for last season which eventually reached 1.6million euros will be significantly reduced for next season due to lower than anticipated income. The cut could even reach 20%.
On the way out are veteran striker Toy, midfielder Paulo Regula, defender Vitor Vinha and keeper Ventura whilst loan signings João Gonçlaves, Mexer, Wilson Eduardo, Andre Pinto and Mexer will be returning to their respective clubs.
Goalkeeper Fabiano Freitas could well be on his way to FC Porto or Sporting for a fee in the region of €1.5 million. Cauê, who has starred in midfield this season, is wanted by several clubs in France and Germany. Coming in could be François D’Onofrio (Standard Leige, Belgium) who has been training with the squad. Others on the Olhanense radar are David Silva (Kilmarnock, Scotland), Paulo Oliveira (Penafiel), Babanco (Arouca), Nuno Silva (União da Madeira), Zambujo (Portimonense) and centre-forward Licá currently with 2nd Division Champions Estoril.
