The 600-strong holiday crowd present at Portimão’s municipal stadium on the last August afternoon of the summer was treated to an emotional roller coaster ride before finally making its way home – happy in the knowledge that its team had conjured up the first win of the new season.
Cafu had put Feirense ahead in the 24th minute before Jefferson doubled the visitor’s advantage – shortly after the interval – to silence home supporters. However, Bata pulled one back almost immediately after the re-start to initiate a great Algarvean fight-back, which saw sustained pressure rewarded a quarter of an hour later, when Kanazaki beat static away keeper Makaridze from outside the area to level the score at two a piece.
All appeared to have been in vain as experienced referee Olegário Benquerença pointed to the penalty spot with full time approaching, but Feirense captain Barge blasted his effort against the bar to send a huge cheer around the stands. The let-off spurred Portimonense on, and it fell to Fidelis to make sure that the turn-about was completed when finding the back of the net deep into injury time to leave the score at 3-2 in favour of the hosts.
Portimonense will not have the two-week international break, but will still hope to integrate new on-loan Cluj central defender João Paulo before this weekend’s catch-up game at União de Madeira, which is then followed by a visit to Lisbon where Sporting B provide the opposition on September 13.
By Skip Bandele
