PORTUGUESE FA CUP THIRD ROUND:
PORTIMONENSE 1-2 SPORTING
SANJOANENSE 2-4 FARENSE
LAGOA 0-2 FAMALICÃO
Portimonense hosted the glamour tie of the FA Cup third round last Friday night and only failed by a whisker to take reigning champions and current league leaders Sporting into extra time.
Goalkeeper Vinicius did well to keep out a Hjulmand header on the half-hour mark but was powerless 10 minutes later from preventing Danish U-21 international and €19 million Sporting summer signing Conrad Harder sweeping the visitors into the lead.
Following the interval, Portimonense fought back and Elijah levelled the scores after a well-taken 87th-minute Geovane corner. However, with top scorer Gyokeres now also on the pitch, Harder combined well with the prolific Swede to chip the advancing Vinicius for his brace and the winner in the fourth minute of injury time.
Meanwhile, Portimonense’s quest of climbing out of the bottom three in the second division table continues on Saturday afternoon at Feirense.
Farense were also in action at Liga 3 side Sanjoanense just south of Porto on Sunday for their FA Cup third round tie and were made to work hard for their victory by the lowly opposition.
Two powerful strikes from Alex Bermejo either side of half time should have settled Algarvean nerves, but a 51st-minute Vitor Pisco header reduced the advantage before a Duarte Maneta own goal then restored the visitors’ two-goal cushion. But back came Sanjoanense with Rui Santos making it 2-3 until a Raúl Silva strike finally put the match to bed seven minutes from the end.
Farense are back in league action away at Sporting Braga on Sunday afternoon ahead of Benfica’s visit the following Saturday.
Completing last weekend’s Algarve third round FA Cup involvement were non-league Lagoa who matched topflight Famalicão for a long time before succumbing to a Yassir Zabiri brace late on in the tie.
By SKIP BANDELE
