IMORTAL FOOTBALL CLUB ALBUFEIRA

Yesterday : Imortal 0 - 0 Quarteirense a frustrating afternoon forboth teams. Imortal remain top of the league. but now only on goal difference above Ferreiras, who move into second place with Portimonense B losing at home to Silves.

Hi Cubsur  

Thanks for the info. I presume you will be going to the match.

IMORTAL 3 - 2 SILVES

An eventful last 15 minutes! What was announced as seven minutes added time turned into nearly twelve, during which Imortal equalised for the second time and then grabbed the winner. The Silves players and fans were incensed and several made a rush for the referee. The full weight of the GNR was required to escort the match officials from the pitch. The official record shows three red cards issued during the melée, two for Silves and one, Herlander Tome, for Albufeira. He will be suspended, for how long who knows yet, and will be a big loss.

Imortal had not played well for much of the game. It was difficult get through the well organised Silves defence. Poor passing didn't help either. Silves, for their part, defended in depth and made only one scoring opportunity during the first half.

The team was unchanged from last week except that Mateus Vieira replaced Ricardo Tome in only his fourth start of the season.

Imortal had early chances, with Alves being crowded out or blocked more than once and then crossing well for Duarte, whose curling effort from the edge of the area went narrowly wide. Silves relied on the occasional counter-attack, but there were no alarms. Not on the pitch at least! A powerful clearance demolished the radio station's aerial mounted on top of the player's tunnel.

The referee was rather lenient we felt. Only five free kicks were awarded in the fist half. Typical was a rugby tackle on Alves that went unpunished. It wasn't until 34 minutes had passed when the whistle first went against Imortal. Silves' George Souza saw yellow for a hack at Cintra, just before a great run down the left by Dragnev was finished with a superb cross that went just behind Duarte, poised five metres from goal.

The second half started with a bang. Two bangs. Imortal's defence was still in the changing room when Silves attacked with speed, Kevin Bacerra down the left wing crossing to Souza who was completely unmarked in front of goal. `Keeper Inácio had no chance. The lead didn't last long. The second bang saw Antonio down the right wing for Imortal, crossing to Duarte on the far post who had an easy header for the equaliser. That was Imortal's first effort on target.

Not much happened during the next twenty minutes or so. With the setting sun in defender's eyes, Martins replaced Vieira to bring more height into the attack. Vieira received a good round of applause.

Then the game burst into life, rather unexpectedly. Imortal were pressing forward, everyone bar Inacio was in the Silves half. A mighty boot out of defence fell to Bruno Nova, lurking just inside the half with nobody within twenty metres of him. Inácio had stayed back and was helpless as Nova headed towards him, ball at his feet. He finished calmly, low and hard.

Imortal were struggling to make an impact against Silves' even more determined defence. Just as time was running out, a free kick routine went horribly wrong, but still Dragnev got a toe to the ball but poked it wide from close range.

Seven minutes added time were announced. Imortal pressed. My watch said 52 minutes (45+7) when Imortal were awarded a corner. Nowadays of course the game does not end just because time is up. Dragnev took the corner which found Duarte's head for the second equaliser. 2-2, fair enough we thought. We will take a draw after that.

Game kicked off and still we played. Eight, nine, ten minutes!! Why?? Silves were visibly tiring when Herlander Tome crossed from the right to Duarte, who completed his hat-trick with a third header. Joy unconfined for Imortal players and fans, naturally. We kicked off again with just over 11 minutes on the clock. My watch said 56:42 when the referee blew the final whistle.

Then of course it got out of hand. Souza, in particular, went wild and had to be held back by team-mates and assorted trainers. He was red-carded as was his team mate Diogo Pinto. Somewhere in the scrum Herlander Tome also saw red. There could easily have been a lot more. The GNR escorted the match officials off the pitch before the players. One officer was tapping either his baton or gun, I couldn't quite see. The contingent of Silves fans were very unhappy to say the least.

But Imortal have now two wins from two in this second stage. If all the games are going to be like that, we shall have shredded nerves come the end of the season.


Imortal team : Inácio; Prates, Pedro Rodrigues, Jose, Dragnev; Cintra, Alves, Antonio, Vieira; Herlander Tome, Duarte. Subs used : Martins, Coelho, Tomas Rodrigues, Baldé. (Incidentally Imortal's back four were numbered 2,3,4 and 5. Most unusual these days with squad numbers.)

Match statistics

Free kicks conceded : Imortal 3 (a record surely), Silves 9
Offside : none at all
Shots on target : Imortal 3 (so a 100% success rate), Silves 2 (ditto)
Shots off target : Imortal 5, Silves 0
Shots blocked : Imortal 4, Silves 1
Corners : Imortal 4, Silves 3
Yellow cards : Imortal 1, Silves 2
Red cards, after the final whistle, Imortal 1, Silves 2