Portimão’s latest attempt to move away from the bottom of the Liga Orangina table at high-flying Naval became doomed only half an hour into the match.
New manager Lazaro Oliveira had rung the changes ahead of Sunday’s kick-off, bringing in recent signings Serginho (goal) and Brazilian midfielder Robson as well as promising junior Wakasso and the team looked more compact despite falling behind early on.
Unfortunately the last-mentioned Wakasso was given a straight red card after 32 minutes but the Algarveans continued to press forward and were rewarded shortly after the interval when a great strike from Robson restored parity.
The extra effort required to keep up with only ten men began to tell however, Junior Pereira scoring the winner for the home side 15 minutes before the end.
By Sunday week’s televised (Sport TV1) 11.15am home clash with runaway leaders Estoril, Portimão will have had plenty of time to integrate further reinforcements Eridson (Paços Ferreira) and Meza (Olhao) and may be in a better position to fight for their Liga de Honra lives.
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