Portimonense beat runaway second division leaders FC Porto B 2-1 last Saturday evening to close the gap on their principal promotion rivals.
A well-contested opening half saw chances at both ends with manager José Augusto’s men unlucky not to be awarded a penalty after Porto’s Omar Govea had handled the ball in the area on the 20-minute mark. Shortly afterwards the visitors from the north should have taken the lead, but first Ismael Diaz and then Leonardo Ruiz only managed to hit the woodwork.
After the interval, Fabricio replaced Theo Ryuki in the Portimonense mid-field and made an immediate impact by crashing a pending free kick into the top left-hand corner of the Porto goal with his first touch. Ten minutes later it was Pires’ turn to produce a bit of magic when racing clear to lob opposition keeper Gudino who had come off his line.
Now 2-0 down, Porto tried to make up the deficit but a solitary Pite strike not long before the final whistle was not enough to deny the Algarveans victory.
The three points see Portimonense one point behind both Gil Vicente and Freamunde with Feirense and Chaves, currently occupying the two promotion spots, another two and three points ahead respectively. Another win at Viseu this Sunday could really heat up the contest.
Meanwhile, the imminent arrival of Mu Kanazaki from Japan coupled with the signing of 18-year-old Nigerian U-17 World Champion Musa Yahaya, who has had trials at Tottenham and Porto, should represent significant reinforcements for the remainder of this exciting season.
Photo: The imminent arrival of Mu Kanazaki from Japan represents a significant reinforcement
SKIP BANDELE
