Last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at lowly Belenenses was undoubtedly the team’s worst performance of the season. Despite the troubles off the field, there was an optimistic feeling about the trip to Lisbon. Club captain Rui Duarte was returning to the club where he started his career and was keen to impress.
French midfielder Coubronne made his debut and Jander, despite a niggling injury, was forced to play, with fellow defenders Mladen and Bigazzi on the ‘sick list’.
Everything went wrong when the team from Belém opened the scoring in the 10th minute. A second goal soon after the break plus the dismissal of Diakhite ensured that the Algarve side returned pointless. There are no Primeira Liga games this weekend due to the World Cup qualifiers and next week sees the Algarve outfit travel north to Viseu for a Portugal Cup third round tie. The next home game is on the weekend of October 26/27 when newly-promoted Arouca are the visitors. Chris Wright
