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12 September 2006, by Marco Pereira

Beira-Mar fury at late penalty

Leiria 2-2 Beira-Mar

It was a wild night at the Estadio Municipal Dr. Magalhaes Pessoa in Leiria. There were goals, sendings off and a penalty awarded that should not have been.

The result was that Leiria and Beira-Mar played out a 2-2 draw to end the second round of the Bwin Liga in controversial fashion.

The game had started off slowly with both teams creating little in the way of clear goal scoring opportunities. The deadlock was broken in the 28th minute and came from a Beira-Mar free kick. Emerson took the free kick and Leiria goalkeeper, Bruno Vale, let the ball slip through his fingers where Wegno, laying in wait in the perfect spot, easily nudged the ball into the net.

The first half ended with Beira-Mar one up in a lifeless opening 45 minutes. The second half started more positively with both teams making real efforts to win the game.

Leiria were using their full-backs as wingers in order to exploit the flanks on either side, while Beira-Mar threatened Leiria’s goal on two occasions. The first chance came in the 54th minute as Jardel used his trademark header to try and beat the keeper and three minutes later a Diakite header from a corner kick just missed the post by inches.

Supersub

Jardel was substituted in the 59th minute by Vasco Matos as Beira-Mar coach, Augusto Inacio, felt it was time to swap a striker for an attacking forward. The substitution appeared to be a stroke of genius as Matos doubled the Beira-Mar lead in the 66th minute with a great piece of individual skill as he let fly with a shot into the Leiria net that Bruno Vale could only watch as it sailed over his head.

Beira-Mar looked comfortable at this point and set to take all three points home with them, but as they say, the ball is round and Leiria did not feel like conceding defeat just yet.

Leiria pulled one back in the 81st minute as Sougou’s shot went in off Beira-Mar defender, Alcaraz, making it 1-2. With a new lease of life, Leiria quickly went to work on trying to get the equalising goal.

This was when the controversy started and the game got ugly. In the 85th minute Beira-Mar keeper Danrlei was adjudged to have committed a foul against Leiria striker, Sougou, when TV replays showed the keeper never made contact with the forward.

Unfortunately, the referee, Joao Vilas Boas, saw it differently and the keeper received a second yellow followed by a red card. Wegno then took over the keeping duties but could not prevent Eder converting the ensuing penalty.

Almost immediately Tixier and Vasco Matos were both sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct and Valdomiro was lucky not to take an early bath himself for a disgraceful tackle on Torrao. The Liga’s Disciplinary Committee will surely review his actions this week.

It was an unfortunate way to end the game and second round of the championship as Benfica had three of their players sent off on Saturday and three more were given their marching orders last night – an image the Liga could do without.

Leiria coach, Domingos Paceinca, did not want to comment on the penalty awarded to his team, saying that from where he stood he could not analyse whether or not it was a correct decision. As for the result, Domingos said “We started well, but then suffered the first goal and always had to play from behind. We kept believing and the draw is a reflection of that. The game was even.”

Beira-Mar coach, Augusto Inacio, had a very different view than his colleague and felt that his team were robbed during the game: “Watch it on television. The penalty did not exist and the red cards shown to Danrlei and Vasco Matos were completely unjustified.”

“The shove by Valdomiro on Torrao went completely unnoticed. What happened here was shameful! We played really well.”

Leiria:
Bruno Vale, Eder, Marcos Antonio, Renato (Valdomiro, 21), Tixier, Paulo Gomes, Paulo Machado, Harison, Sougou, Cadu Silva (Paulo Cesar, 45), Toure (Bartosz Slusarski, 65)
Yellow Cards: Paulo Machado (50), Paulo Gomes (70), Tixier (77)
Red Cards: Tixier (90)

Beira-Mar:
Danrlei, Jorge Vidigal, Jorge Silva, Alcaraz, Tininho, Diakite, Emerson (Torrao, 82 ), Rui Lima, Ratinho (Marco, 69), Jardel (Vasco Matos, 59), Wegno
Yellow Cards: Emerson (33), Dabrlei (58), Rui Lima (74)
Red Cards: Danrlei (85), Vasco Matos (90)

Goals:
[0-1] Wegno, 28
[0-2] Vasco Matos, 66
[1-2] Alcaraz (o.g.), 81
[2-2] Eder (pen), 88