By SKIP BANDELE
Whatever it was that coach Litos said to his team during his half-time analysis, it had the desired effect.
Portimonense, in desperate need of some sort of result at home against Academica in order to avoid being drawn into the relegation dog-fight, had reached the interval trailing by two goals. Miguel Fidalgo had opened the scoring for the visitors in the 19th minute and Hugo Morais doubled that advantage seconds before the whistle.
That strike, the result of a ‘phantom’ foul awarded against the home team by the always inconsistent referee Hugo Pacheco, marked the end of a frantic closing spell which had seen one perfectly good goal for either side mysteriously disallowed.
Having been deemed to have protested too much by Mr Pacheco, Litos was afforded the luxury of observing the second half from the stands.
That vantage point afforded the Portimão manager a great view of first the much-improved Renatinho’s 65th-minute free kick and then Nilson’s great first touch only 60 seconds later which restored parity and saw the match end in a just 2-2 draw.
“I don’t know why I was given my marching orders and I won’t comment,” Litos said after the game. “I can only say that from what I saw we were the victims of two bad decisions which directly influenced the result.”
The valuable point gained sees Portimonense stay above Rio Ave and Naval level with Maritimo who also drew their match with Leiria.
The Algarveans now face the daunting task of taking on runaway leaders Porto, 5-0 victors over arch-rivals Benfica at the weekend, at the Dragao stadium.
The game will be shown live Sunday evening at 8.15pm on Sport TV1.
