IMORTAL FOOTBALL CLUB ALBUFEIRA

Am I seeing a conundrum if a perfectly possible scenario plays out?

I shall be there on Sunday afternoon, fingers firmly crossed.

IMORTAL 2 - 1 LOULETANO

Imortal safe from relegation at the last gasp! Great were the celebrations, you would think we had won the League!

It was desperate stuff at times. Imortal will have to make some serious improvements if this end of season drama is to avoided next time. There were far too may mis-placed passes, possession was far too easily lost on many occasions. It may have been nerves or it may have been that some players were rusty, lacking match practice having played only once in the previous four weeks owing to the ridiculous fixture list.

It was a warm sunny day, but windy, straight down the pitch. There was a good crowd, probably around 300 with many of the club's junior players filling the seats.


Louletano had the wind at their backs in the first half. They made good use of it, sending long passes down the middle. A horrible mistake  by Flavio Manuel, trying to deal with a bouncing ball, almost gave the visitors an early lead but good covering by Rodrigues held off the attacker. But a goal for Louletano was not long coming. On 11 minutes a free kick was floated in from the left on the wind to the far post, there was no challenge giving Bamba an easy header.

Imortal's reserve ´keeper Tomas Ferreira had already made a good save and was again called into action mid way through the half, with a good low stop from a long range effort. Louletano were on top, it wasn't until almost the half hour that Imortal managed their first shot.

Then shortly before half time the visitors centre back Silva received his second yellow card. After the customary on field debate he was sent off. An injury to Manuel saw his replacement by Williams Fadini. Both sides had to re-organise and went into half time with a lot of thinking to do.

Although Imortal played with the wind in the second half, there was nothing to show for it for a long time. Louletano had the two best efforts, one just over the bar and the other a free kick parried by Ferreira, but only into the path of a forward who missed his header from two metres then was probably relieved to see he had been flagged offside.

Two more subs by Imortal just after the hour mark to try to change the game. Reward soon came. After series of scuffles and two more bookings, Imortal finally got the ball into the penalty area. A classic goalmouth scramble, defenders all over the place, ended with Sandro Cabral toe poking the ball over the line for the equaliser.

The second was seven minutes later. A good attacking move was finished by Cabral's shot hitting a post, goalkeeper stranded and Ailton Tavares smashed in the loose ball from the edge of the goal area. Celebrations galore!

But there were still eleven minutes of normal time remaining. Imortal tried to play for time, keeping the ball in the corner. That didn't work. I saw one of the ball boys being given instructions from the subs bench, no doubt in that regard!  Louletano threw caution to the wind, literally, and piled everything up front sending in long balls trying for a penalty or dangerous free kick. All hands to the defensive pumps for Imortal and no silly mistakes please. Ferreira made another brave save, injuring himself in the process, from a point blank header as the game moved into four minutes added time. One of the Louletano coaching staff was red carded for expressing his views on that matter. One last header from Louletano went wide, the final whistle went and the crowd roared.

MATCH STATISTICS

Free kicks conceded : Imortal 16, Louletano 22
Offside : Imortal 1, Louletano 3
Shots on targert : Imortal 6, Louletano 6
Shots off target : Imortal 2, Louletano 8
Shots blocked : Imortal 1, Louletano 2
Corners : Imortal 6, Louletano 3
Yellow cards : Imortal 4, Louletano 4
Red cards : Louletano 1  (2 of the yellows)

Good evening...... would anyone know if Imortal have a youth U13s football team?  If they have, would anyone know the best way to get in touch with them?  Many thanks :)

Watched a good game on Sunday,  NUFC 3-3 Man. City. Both teams going toe to toe. Pity Newcastle couldn't hang on for a deserved win but City are a class team.