Bwin Liga Sunday action round-up

Estrela da Amadora stun Guimaraes

With Benfica and Sporting dropping points in their respective fixtures, they were not the only ones making headlines as Estrela da Amadora shocked everyone by thrashing Guimaraes, while Maritimo and Pacos de Ferreira also picked up vital home wins.

Estrela da Amadora 4-1 Vitoria Guimaraes
Estrela da Amadora did a hammer job on Champions League contenders Vitoria Guimaraes as they ran up a comprehensive 4-1 home win. With the loss Guimaraes missed out on the chance to leapfrog Sporting into third place.

The match started off as expected with Vitoria almost scoring in the opening minute, but a desperate last-ditch effort by Nelson kept the score nil-nil. A good match ensued as both teams were pushing one another to see who would draw first blood. Vitoria almost scored again in the 34th minute as the team broke out on the counter attack with Fajardo feeding Joao Alves. The midfielder laid the ball off to Alan who ended up striking it against the post.

Two minutes later Mrdakovic scored his 5th goal in league play when he shot with his right foot past Nelson. An entertaining first half was followed by an even better second half. Guimaraes hit the post again five minutes after the re-start, but Amadora were level in the 52nd minute when Nuno Viveiros tucked the ball past Nilson.

Guimaraes thought they had retaken the lead two minutes later, but Desmartes’ effort clanked off the post, and on the hour mark Geromel inadvertently put the ball into his own net to give the hosts the lead.

Desmartes must have thought he was cursed as he found the post again in the 67th minute. The misses would end up costing the visitors. Estrela were efficient with their opportunities as Helder Cabral out-muscled Mateus to the ball and hit a low shot across the goal to make it 3-1 in the 71st minute. Five minutes from full time Pedro Pereira thundered a shot past Nilson to cap the night off.

Maritimo 2-1 Leixoes
Maritimo kicked off the new year in fine fashion as they picked up a home win against Leixoes. All the scoring occurred in the opening 25 minutes, with some nastiness then creeping into the match as both teams ended up with less players than they started with.

The islanders opened the scoring in the 3rd minute as Bruno Fogaca notched his third goal in as many games when he headed a Ricardo Esteves cross into the back of the net. Leixoes were level two minutes later as Esteves went from provider to goat as his attempted clearance arched over Marcos and into his own goal.

Maritimo regained the lead in the 22nd minute as Gregory headed a Marcinho corner past Beto to score what would be the winning goal. The match then had fireworks of a different kind as Ricardo Esteves was thrown out in the 36th minute for receiving two yellow cards in the space of twelve minutes.

In the second half Leixoes were also reduced to 10 men when Paulo Machado collected his second yellow card in the 73rd minute, and the visitors did themselves no favours as Nuno Silva saw a straight red card in the 88th minute for an ugly challenge on Joao Luiz.

Pacos de Ferreira 2-1 Uniao de Leiria
Pacos de Ferreira scored a huge win in the battle of the cellar dwellers when they distanced themselves from last place with a victory over relegation-bound Leiria.

The home side thought they had scored in the 7th minute when Furtado found the back of the net, but the goal was called back for a foul by the striker. Pacos had another goal disallowed in the 23rd minute as Roversio headed a Cristiano free kick past Fernando, but the match official whistled for a foul committed against Leiria defender Eder.

The hosts finally broke the deadlock in the 55th minute when the unmarked Wesley headed in an Edson cross. Pacos doubled their lead in the 69th minute as Roversio headed a Cristiano corner back into play and Wesley earned a brace when he redirected the ball into the open net.

Leiria got a late consolation in the 78th minute as Joao Paulo scored his 8th goal in all competitions. But it would be a too little too late and Leiria now find themselves seven points adrift of Pacos as the dark clouds of relegation begin to loom overhead.

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