Trigger-happy referee Jorge Faustino did his best to ruin what was to become a historic encounter between Portimonense and Penafiel last week by issuing an astonishing total of eight yellow and three red cards as well as sending home team assistant coach Pedro Simões to the stands.
The match began badly for the Algarveans when Vitor Bruno put the visitors ahead after only three minutes. Shortly afterwards a bad foul by Penafiel’s Pedro Ribeiro, which left star striker Dyego Sousa unable to continue with a dislocated shoulder, went unpunished as Lázaro Oliveira’s men came under increasing pressure.
Several bookings later Portimonense were back in the driving seat following a straight red from Mr Faustino issued to Romeu Ribeiro for a heavy tackle on Semedo, and Juninho levelled the score shortly before the interval.
The chaos orchestrated by the official from Santarém continued in the second half, with both scorer Juninho and Nelsinho receiving their marching orders to leave Portimonense with nine men on the pitch. Fortunately, Ivo Nicolau found the back of the net between the two incidents and Portimonense managed to hang on for a deserved 2-1 success. The victory established a new record of five consecutive victories in the second division for Portimonense and equalled the previous best of six in all competitions.
Unfortunately that tumultuous encounter left the Algarveans without a recognised centre forward for Sunday morning’s game with Santa Clara and the lack of fire-power told as the team from the Azores ran out the 1-0 winners. Despite the setback Portimonense find themselves only one point behind Porto B in clear second place, and will be hoping to continue their promotion drive at Leixões on October 23. Skip Bandele
