25 September 2006, by Tom Kundert

Sporting close gap at table summit

Aves 0-2 Sporting

Sporting got back to winning ways after their shock defeat last week with a 2-0 victory away at Aves.

A goal in the first half from Brazilian striker Alecsandro, his first for the club, and a late effort from Tonel moved the Lions up to second place in the table, three points behind leaders Porto.

The fourth win in five official matches this season will boost Sporting’s morale ahead of their long Champions League trip to Russia, where they face Spartak Moscow on Wednesday.

Striker Alecsandro was given his second consecutive start by Paulo Bento, and the Brazilian repaid the faith shown in him on 15 minutes when he timed his run to perfection and converted an excellent crossfield pass by Joao Moutinho.

After half an hour of domination by Sporting the home team at last began to put some pressure on the Lisbon club. Freddy had already threatened from a Leandro cross, when in the 31st minute the striker escaped his marker and his strong header beat Ricardo but bounced back into play off the post.

In the second half Aves brought on Mercio and Hernani, and both players were influential as the home side made life much more difficult for Sporting. On 70 minutes Aves were again close to an equaliser when a rapid counter-attack ended with Hernani shooting into the side-netting.

With ten minutes remaining Sporting coach Paulo Bento replaced striker Yannick Djalo with Tonel, apparently to try and safeguard the slender lead. However, it would be the central defender himself who doubled Sporting’s advantage just two minutes later, taking advantage of a bad mistake by Aves goalkeeper Musse to convert a free-kick taken by Nani.

Liedson and Romagnoli both had good chances to score as Sporting dominated the closing minutes, but a third goal would have been rough justice on a spirited Aves display.

The newly promoted team next face an away fixture at Benfica, while Sporting receive Leiria at Alvalade.

Aves:
Musse, Carvalho, William, Nunes, Junior, Manuel, Anunciacao, Nene (Mercio, 46), Leandro (Jocivalter, 73), Xano, Fredy (Hernani, 46)
Yellow Cards: Mercio (69), Manuel (72), Nunes (91)

Sporting:
Ricardo, Miguel Garcia, Polga, Miguel Veloso, Ronny (Caneira, 63), Nani, Moutinho, Tello, Yanick Djalo (Tonel, 80), Alecsandro (Romagnoli, 63), Liedson

Goals:
[0-1] Alecsandro, 15
[0-2] Tonel, 82