Portimonense’s perseverance with unproven new coach Vitor Maçãs is beginning to pay dividends as the Algarveans banked six invaluable points within a five-day period to climb into seventh place in the table while still having a game in hand over the teams above them.
Last Wednesday evening’s home match saw winger Mou Kanasaki lead the attack against a surprisingly tame Porto B eleven. The Japanese international delivered an inch-perfect corner 10 minutes into the second half for Mauricio to head home before successfully converting a penalty following a foul on Fidelis in the area.
The 2-0 victory was also the first against Porto since ‘B’ teams began competing in the second tier of professional football last season.
The improved form carried over into Sunday’s potentially tricky away encounter in Aveiro where Portimonense came back strongly after falling behind early on in the match. Beira-Mar’s Billal Sebaihi had put the hosts ahead in the 18th minute but Maçãs’ men emerged from the tunnel after the interval determined to turn things around.
An acrobatic overhead kick from Fidelis cancelled out the initial advantage before strikes from Fernandinho and Fabricio sealed a deserved 3-1 win.
On these showings Portimonense should have nothing to fear either from this Sunday morning’s catch-up game opponents Santa Clara – 11am kick-off – or next weekend’s Vitória de Guimarães B away opposition.
By Skip Bandele
