Portimonense delivered another insipid home performance on Sunday afternoon which resulted in defeat to bottom side Oliveirense.
A ninth-minute Pires strike – his 9th of the league season – should have paved the way for a much-needed win at the municipal stadium. Instead, the visitors proceeded to look much the better side and were duly rewarded when Carlitos slotted home from the spot after Lucas had brought down Rafa in the penalty area 10 minutes into the second half.
That was Lucas’ second bookable offence and reduced to 10 men Portimonense became even less of a threat, allowing Rafa to race through and grab the winner shortly before the end.
The Algarveans enjoyed a better, albeit luckless, encounter at Penafiel the previous Wednesday. On that occasion, Dener’s opener had been cancelled out by Aldair when Fidelis potential 80th-minute match winner rebounded off the crossbar.
The solitary point gained from two matches against lowly opposition resulted in a ‘crisis meeting’ on Monday night prior to Wednesday’s Portuguese Cup 5th round trip to Gil Vicente (played after the Resident went to press).
This Sunday Portimonense are on the road again to face third-placed Chaves in Barcelos – a win there would take manager José Augusto’s men back into promotion contention.
SKIP BANDELE
