A balmy Algarve late afternoon pre-season friendly between Portimonense and Brighton & Hove Albion turned into a farce on Saturday.
All appeared well as the match kicked off at Ferreiras’ Nora Stadium, with a good crowd made up of travelling English and Portuguese supporters enjoying the summer sunshine.
Portimão manager Litos was looking forward to further shaping his new squad – on-loan South African striker Calvin Kadi had arrived in mid-week – following the recent 3-0 success over Cardiff, while Seagulls manager Gus Poyet was equally eager to test Argentine duo Cristian Baz and Agustin Battipiedi.
The early battle for midfield dominance was marked by some tough but fair tackles as Kadi, Brazilian Aragoney and Venezuelan Pena came close to putting the home side ahead.
Meanwhile, Baz was the main target man for the visiting Division One club, but his 35th-minute miss was punished shortly afterwards when Pena evaded two Albion players before cracking a low shot past Brighton keeper Michael Poke.
Before the half-time whistle went Kadi still had the opportunity to double the score, but after rounding Poke successfully his goal-bound effort was blocked by Tommy Elphick.
Throughout the half, the game had become progressively more physical, with Brighton winger Ashley Barnes, later described as a “Rambo” in the Portuguese press, leading the way with his uncompromising style of play, while the array of flying English tackles was met with Latin aerial acrobatic displays.
The escalating aggressiveness on the pitch went largely unchecked by Algarve referee Nuno Guerreiro, who appeared to lose control over proceedings completely after the re-start and must be largely to blame for what was to follow.
But first Portimão served early warning that even better was to come from them from a footballing aspect – a 50th-minute Jumisse in-swinger required the combined efforts of the Brighton defence to prevent the Mozambique international from making the score sheet.
Four minutes later, Ivanildo unleashed a ferocious 20-yard drive which gave replacement Albion keeper Mitch Walker no chance and Portimonense were deservedly 2-0 up.
The same Brazilian striker subsequently clashed with the aforementioned Barnes, whose wayward elbow provoked an attempted punch, resulting in the teams facing each other off, assisted by both sets of coaching staff who had staged their own mini pitch invasion.
Caught up in the middle, this episode of ‘handbags-at-ten-paces’ obviously proved too much for Senhor Guerreiro, who was nowhere to be found when play could continue and the game was abandoned 22 minutes short of full time.
The on-pitch theatre also proved too much for local law enforcement, with several officers marching onto the turf apparently fearing for the worst.
The fans were left bemused. According to one eye witness, the harmony and enjoyment of the spectacle on the terraces was only undermined by a sudden alcohol ban.
Close to 400 Sussexmen, who had made the 1,500-mile trip to accompany their heros, as well as several 100 thirsty Portimão fans, were left high and dry when police decided to stop the sale of beer at half-time.
The same person in the stadium went on to claim that the generally good-humoured crowd were further perplexed by the arrival of a riot van.
Portimonense FC staff declined to comment on the incident during the aftermath, preferring to concentrate on the improved performance marked by two great strikes.
“It is important to score during preparation games,” said Pena, who followed his manager’s lead in refusing to discuss anything other than the sporting aspects of the game.
“It gives the team confidence for the coming season.”
Brighton’s Poyet, who has played for Saragoça and Chelsea and honed his managerial skills as assistant at Spurs, was equally determined to play down the incident.
“The togetherness was the best part. It is difficult to draw positives when the match almost ended with a fight”, the former Uruguayan international said afterwards.
“Nothing really happened, but there had been a lot of friction. We were walking back to our positions because the players wanted to play, but we looked around and the referee was walking off. That said, it was probably a good decision because it was difficult to continue with the game when that had happened.
“It is a shame for the fans who have supported us in such high numbers out here, but I am sure they appreciate there was not a lot else we could have done in the situation.”
