LIGA PORTUGAL BETCLIC: SANTA CLARA 0-0 FARENSE
LIGA PORTUGAL 2 MEU SUPER: PORTIMONENSE 1-0 ALVERCA
Last Sunday afternoon, Farense participated in one of the most distant fixtures in European football with high-flying Santa Clara in the Azores.
A mostly uneventful first half came to an end with want-away Marco Moreno – Seville and Valencia are interested in the Spanish defender – committing two bookable offences within the space of nine minutes, thus reducing the visitors to 10 men.
Santa Clara laid siege to Ricardo Velho’s goal following the break, but a combination of wayward finishing and good goalkeeping resulted in the Algarveans escaping with a potentially valuable point.
Farense will now prepare for their Portuguese FA Cup last 16 tie against Benfica next Tuesday night.
The Municipal Stadium in Portimão was the scene for an early 11am kick-off last Saturday morning and it appeared that both the home side and visiting Alverca needed the entire opening half to come fully awake.
In contrast, the re-start immediately saw Filipe Relvas cross the ball for Chico Banza to bury his header beyond helpless keeper João Bravim. A much more animated second 45 minutes then had Lisbon district referee Fá Sanhá send off Geovane and Alemão in quick succession, but the now nine-man Algarvean defence, assisted by some excellent work from keeper Vinicius, stood firm for the best part of half an hour to secure a much-needed first home win since last September.
Now with a four-point cushion above the automatic relegation places, the Algarveans next travel to struggling FC Porto B at the weekend.
Meanwhile, manager Ricardo Pessoa has already taken advantage of the January transfer window with the triple signings of Brazilian left and right backs Keffel and Heitor, as well as promising 22-year-old Colombian forward Juan Alegria who had spells with Rangers, Partick Thistle and Falkirk in Scotland before scoring 18 goals in 26 matches for Chinese side Guangzhou last year.
By SKIP BANDELE
