IMORTAL FOOTBALL CLUB ALBUFEIRA

Imortal drew 2-2 at home to Moncarapachense while I was engaged at Tonbridge v Bromley.

Too late for this occasion but a "wee" tip for finding the ground to others. Look up, where you see the socking great floodlights - that's the ground...

Yesterday Almancil 1 Imortal 2, dire end of season game. Shortage of bodies as not everyone could get the day off meant Ben Morris, the English centre half, played left back in a 3-5-3 formation which included some unfamiliar faces and our normal centre forward, Marco Benje, playing in goal, not that he had anything to do.

Fua gave Imortal an early lead with a well struck shot on the turn from the edge of the penalty area.  Imortal were the better of two poor outfits but chances were few. Rui had a good effort well saved then Nelson was wide of the mark on the half hour. Ben Morris was booked on 40 minutes when a horrible pass from Nelson got him into trouble. He brought down his opponent and was yellow carded. Nelson did apologise!

The second half saw Almancil playing better, but they could hardly have been any worse. Nothing much happened for the first twenty minutes except that Almancil (in white) contrived to miss this chance.



Then after 25 minutes or so of poor stuff, Imortal were awarded a penalty which Nelson converted with his usual efficiency.

Almancil responded and within five minutes were back in the game. Imortal were caught sleeping at a free kick giving the home side a chance to make 50 yards and score with ease.

Almancil had plenty of chances to equalise after that, but their final ball and finishing was dire. Benje was booked for timewasting as the game petered out to a quiet end.

The day's other results mean Imortal are back into third place but have no real chance of finishing higher. Also news that Castromarinense have dropped out of the League, meaning that their opponents in remaining matches have been awarded 3-0 wins which includes us. That also means that the scheduled game for 24th May is off.

Match stats

Free kicks conceded : Imortal 15, Almancil 14 plus the penalty
Offside Imortal 1, Almancil 3
Shots on target : Imortal 5, Almancil 2 (yes it was that bad)
Shots off target : Imortal 1, Almancil 6
Shots blocked : Imortal 1, Almancil 0
Corners : Imortal 3, Almancil 4
Yellow cards, Imortal 3 (Morris for a foul, Benje for time wasting and Sandro for an alleged dive which even the home fans thought was hilarious.) Almancil 4, two for dissent, I for the foul that lead to the penalty and one for a reason I could not fathom.

Imortal have two more games this week. On Sunday (ie tomorrow) they will be at home to Figueirense and on Wednesday evening away to Aljezur. Not very sensible fixture scheduling by the league considering how many other vacant midweek dates there are. There's a big game here on Saturday 3rd May when Imortal (currently 3rd) take on Silves (4th) and if the first game is one to go by there will be some fun and games.

I'm hoping to be at the home match v Guia on 17th May.

metroace wrote: I'm hoping to be at the home match v Guia on 17th May.

Probably a 5pm ko ie same time as the English FA Cup Final.

If Imortal were gunning for the title I would go there, but I think I shall go to watch Hull beat Arsenal instead.

Ok so check here the Tuesday before for the confirmed time.

We are.

1700 confirmed. I always check on a Saturday morning in case they have changed it at short notice. Been caught out before.

Well, I finally made to to an Imortal match to see a bizarre game from a referee. The final score was 5-0 (I think) to Imortal who finished the game with 9 men to Guia's 10. During the first half, the referee failed to see virtually any wrong doing whereas in the second half he went a bit card crazy!

Guia rarely looked worrying for the Imortal defence and even though they were awarded two penalties (one hit the crossbar, the other was an excellent save) they failed to put a goal on the scoresheet. At the other end, the Guia goalkeepers habit of watching the game from outside his own penalty area was always going to get noticed eventually and the last three goals can all be put down to his poor positioning combined with the tactical awareness of the Imortal attackers.

My wife and I were warmly welcomed in the ground and in the bar and we will be back in Algarve for another week in November with fingers crossed for a home match falling within our visit.