Liga Portugal Betclic:
Estoril 1-0 Portimonense
Farense 1-1 Rio Ave
Last Friday night, Portimonense enjoyed 60% of possession and managed twice as many shots on goal as their opponents, yet still left Estoril the losers.
Cassiano scored the somewhat fortuitous winner for the hosts just after the interval, but, by that time, Carlinhos on two occasions and Varela in first half injury time could easily have had the Algarveans in front. That pattern repeated itself after the restart with again Carlinhos and Pedrão at the death guilty of missing an open goal.
Now third from bottom and facing Braga on their return from the current international break, Portimonense really need to capitalise on the few winnable matches remaining such as Rio Ave at home and Chaves away in order to avoid relegation. Manager Paulo Sérgio says he will not step down as he regards such a move as cowardice, but that course of action may be the only way to infuse the team with new ideas if the last game of the season in Faro in mid-May is not to turn into his personal Waterloo.
Farense did not cover themselves in glory on Saturday afternoon either and also remain in a far from secure 12th place, only four points ahead of their Algarve neighbours.
Gonçalo Silva, Mattheus Oliveira and Marco Matias all went close before Fabrício hit the back of the net on the half-hour mark, but Farense were made to rue the earlier missed chances when Boateng levelled the score not long into the second half. A visit to high-flying Arouca is next on the agenda when the league programme resumes on Saturday, May 30.
By SKIP BANDELE
