Sporting pass Santa Clara test with 1-0 win in the Azores to keep title hopes alive
A goal early in the second half by Geny Catamo proved the decisive moment as Sporting won a hard-fought match against Santa Clara this afternoon.
The three points see Sporting rise back to the top of the table, for 24 hours at least, and the Lions were further boosted by the return to action of Pedro Gonçalves after a long injury absence.
Even game
Knocked off the summit by last weekend’s results, Sporting did not start well, struggling to get star man Viktor Gyökeres into the game in a slow and sluggish first half hour against the well-organised Azoreans.
Santa Clara had an early penalty shout when Matheus Pereira went down under a challenge from Eduardo Quaresma, but the referee waved away the protests of the home players.
Playing with a strong wind at their backs, Sporting only discovered shooting from distance may be a wise idea close to the interval, Debast and Catamo testing the alertness of Santa Clara goalkeeper Gabriel Batista.
In between Vinícius Lopes drew a save out of Rui Silva. The half-time whistle went with the game still goalless.
Catamo strikes
The visitors came out significantly more energised in the second half, and Catamo struck in the 50th minute. Collecting an excellent pass for Trincão, the Mozambican shot low across Batista into the corner of the net.
In contrast to previous matches, Sporting did not sit on their lead and continued attacking, helped by the positive substitutions made by coach Rui Borges, the manager perhaps stung by criticism of his overly cautious approach.
Gyökeres spurned a glorious chance to double Sporting’s lead, hitting the crossbar from point-blank range, and Ousmane Diomande’s header into the net was ruled out by VAR with the centre-back 13cm offside.
It was a nervy ending for the Lions and their large contingent of travelling supporters who had made the trip to São Miguel as Santa Clara threw everything at Sporting in the dying minutes, but to no avail.
The ultra competitive nature of the match was shown by a huge melee involving most of the squads and staff of both clubs triggered by a clash between Conrad Harder and Luís Rocha as the final whistle blew, with the referee appearing to show Gonçalo Inácio a red card some minutes later in the continuing confusion.
Pote returns
In addition to getting back to winning ways, there was more good news for Sporting with the return to action of Pedro Gonçalves, who came on for the last 10 minutes after missing five months through injury.
Sporting move to 69 points, one point ahead of Lisbon rivals Benfica who host Arouca at the Estádio da Luz tomorrow.
By Tom Kundert
Santa Clara 0-1 Sporting highlights
Highlights to follow shortly