Only three points separated first and sixth place in Liga Portugal 2, as we arrived into a weekend that was sure to thin out the herd or invite more into the race for promotion, with third meeting fifth when Santa Clara visited Oliveirense.
Elsewhere, Os Belenenses fought till the end in an unbelievable comeback with two late goals, spoiling Torreense’s party.
PortuGOAL rounds up the top action from the Portuguese second tier.
Oliveirense 1-1 Santa Clara
Attack met defence when the relentless threat that is Oliveirense faced off against the lockdown specialists of Santa Clara. It was a massive must-watch game in Jornada 6, with everyone wondering if Santa Clara could blunt the threat of Oliveirense, or would yet another moment of magic from André Schutte or Duarte Duarte send the Unionistas back to the top of Liga Portugal 2 table.
The game kicked off with both sides feeling each other out. After a while, the Oliveirense press began to take its toll forcing Santa Clara to rush their play and make mistakes. Oliveirense had the ball in the net after 35 minutes; a free-kick delivery saw Filipe Alves tap home but it was ruled out correctly for offside with the Unionistas captain making his run slightly early.
Home side’s domination rewarded
Oliveirense would find their deserved opener in the 36th minute of the match, a one-two between Zé Pedro and Anthony Carter saw a turning Carter use the momentum of his spin to fire the ball perfectly across Gabriel Batista at the near post and into the far corner from a difficult angle.
There was no turnaround in the second half for Santa Clara, if anything they looked more uncomfortable than they did in the first. A wayward header was picked up by Oliveirense’s Zé Leite through on goal, with Santa Clara’s Pedro Pacheco getting back and taking all the impact of a shot that was intended to double Oliveirense’s advantage.
André Schutte had a quiet game by his standards. There were no 50-yard dribbles or nutmegs on defenders, but the flashy winger did look to have finally given Oliveirense their second in the 72nd minute, with the simplest of headers in the six-yard box. After an intervention from VAR, however, Schutte’s goal was also ruled as offside, this time by the narrowest of margins.
Santa Clara finish strongly
Once the minutes ticked into the 80th, it was apparent that Oliveirense’s pressing game had cost them their energy, Santa Clara at last got time on the ball and began playing more dangerous passes.
One of those dangerous passes came in the 87th minute, when a ball over the top was angling its way to Diogo Calila. Kazu who was marking Calila put out his arm to off-set Calila’s balance, but unknowingly the ball would hit Kazu’s arm with the faintest of touches. The penalty was awarded and it was the equaliser Santa Clara were chasing; Bruno Almeida smashing the ball into the bottom right corner of the Oliveirense net despite Arthur Augusto guessing correctly.
Oliveirense looked in real danger of gaining nothing from the match they dominated for its majority. Arthur saved a headed effort from Gabriel Silva in the 92nd minute, and Gonçalo Negrão had to go off the field just moments later after smashing into the goalpost whilst trying to block off Paulo Henrique from a ball that was zipped across the face of goal.
Both sides would end up sharing the spoils, but it will no doubt feel like a win for Santa Clara and a loss for Oliveirense considering how one-sided this one was for 90% of the contest, but as Santa Clara knows too well you don’t get points solely for playing attractive football.
Related: AVS extend their lead at the top of the Segunda Liga after a 2-1 win in Viseu
Torreense 2-2 Os Belenenses
After Saturday’s action, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th had all dropped points, meaning Monday evening’s fixture, would present Torreense with the opportunity to jump into a promotion place. All that stood between Rui Ferreira’s men and second place in the standings was promoted side Belenenses - who were sitting 15th and coming off a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Leiria in their last Liga II outing.
It looked a certainty that Torreense would end the 6th Jornada in the promotion places. Belenenses hit the Torres Vedras side with plenty of counter-attacks but couldn’t create any clear-cut opportunities. Duarte Valente then conceded a penalty in the 22nd minute for a foul on Jorge Correa which was converted by Welthon.
Torreense looked to have sealed the victory in the second half when a deflected effort from defender Keffel flew into the top corner in the 54th minute, leaving David Grilo with no chance of producing a save. Os Belém looked down and out as the game neared its end, but a moment of magic from substitute Chapi on the 87th minute changed the entire complexion of the match. He played a perfectly weighted pass that split the defence and found its way to Maxuel Silva, who reacted well to squeeze it into the far corner of the net.
A renewed self-belief for Belenenses turned this one into a classic Liga Portugal 2 game of frantic end-to-end football. Torreense’s David Tavares won the ball after a mishap at the back for Belenenses but he was unable to find the pace to run through one-on-one or find the pass to his teammates in support, and the ensuing counterattack saw the ball go out for a corner to the Lisbon side.
Chapi took the corner and yet another dangerous ball was delivered into the box finding Chima Akas whose downward header beat the Torreense keeper Vagner for the second time in four minutes and sent the Belenenses team and staff wild, completing the unlikeliest of comebacks for a Belenenses side that looked dead and buried.
Player making waves: Elías Ólafsson
Mafra surprised Marítimo as controversy reigned supreme on the island of Madeira. A controversial penalty was awarded and converted in the 92nd minute by Mario Balburdia that gave Mafra all three points, once again flying open the Liga II promotion race.
Key to the Mafra victory was their goalkeeper Elías Ólafsson who made several key saves throughout the 90 minutes. It was a redemption arc sort of game for the Icelandic international, who has had a couple of bad games as the Mafra number one this season, since joining on loan from FC Midtjylland.
Undoubtedly, Ólafsson showed his class today and repaid the faith of manager Jorge Silas with a big performance and a big three points that keeps Mafra amongst the promotion contenders.
Full Results:
Vilaverdense 1-4 Benfica B
Oliveirense 1-1 Santa Clara
Marítimo 1-2 Mafra
Académico Viseu 1-2 AVS
Leixões 1-3 Porto B
Feirense 1-0 Paços de Ferreira
Leiria 2-2 Tondela
Penafiel 1-4 Nacional
Torreense 2-2 Os Belenenses
By José Almeida
