18 September 2006, by Marco Pereira

Maritimo and Aves stalemate

Maritimo 0-0 Aves

Maritimo and Desportivo das Aves played to a stalemate in Madeira, with the home team failing to take advantage of the fact that Aves played most of the match with ten men after goalkeeper Rui Faria was sent off midway through the first half.

The game started off in positive fashion as Maritimo’s Marcinho thumped a shot against the crossbar in the 6th minute, with the Aves goalkeeper well beaten. Not much happened after that until Rui Faria was shown a straight red card for bringing down Kanu outside the box in the 22nd minute, forcing Aves to play the rest of the match with 10 men.

Naturally, Maritimo began to attack more as a consequence of their numerical advantage and it almost paid dividends as Kanu crossed the ball into the box where Moukouri met the cross with a strong header that missed the net by inches.

Neca also came close to scoring just before half time as he had a clear shot on goal only for it to skid away from the post as Aves substitute goalkeeper, Paulo Musse, could only watch it go by.

The second half was more of the same, with Maritimo attacking, but not being able to find much space and Aves defending stoutly.

Late chances

Aves’ best chances of the game came late on. In the 82nd minute Xano crossed the ball from the right near the goal line and Andre Barreto latched onto it and shot into the side netting. Two minutes later Vitor Manuel let fly from a short corner forcing Maritimo goalkeeper Marcos into an excellent save.

Maritimo coach Ulisses Morais was disappointed with the result as his team had played with one more player for most of the game, but not with his team’s display in the light of the circumstances.

“I have nothing to quarrel with my players about because they did everything humanly possible to gain three points. Saying that, we did not always opt for the best way to attack their goal.”

Aves coach Neca felt that the point was fair and took it happily: “Maritimo started the game strongly, they pressed and created difficulties for us in the first 20 minutes which we were not able to counter. When we got better, our goalkeeper was sent off although we had another player covering. The referee decided that way.”

“During the break, we reorganised ourselves because we knew Maritimo would press even more, which they did. I admit we had some luck in certain situations, but the point is fair and deserved because of my players’ performances.”

Maritimo:
Marco, Briguel, Milon do O (Neca, 36), Gregory, Evaldo (Mbesuma, 61), Jardel, Andre Barreto, Kanu, Moukouri, Marcinho, Lipatin (Martin Prest, 79)
Yellow Cards: Kanu (78), Briguel (81), Martin Prest (90), Mbesuma (90)

Aves:
Rui Faria, Carvalho, William, Nunes, Anilton, Anunciacao, Vitor Manuel, Xano (Leandro, 90), Nene, Jocivalter (Mercio, 59), Hernani (Paulo Musse, 23)
Yellow Cards: Xano (34), Anunciacao (57), Paulo Musse (89)
Red Cards: Rui Faria (22)