25 October 2006, by Marco Pereira

Maritimo edge past Beira-Mar in free-fall

Maritimo 2-1 Beira-Mar

Maritimo bounced back from the heavy defeat they suffered last week at the hands of FC Porto to beat lowly Beira Mar 2-1 at the Barreiros stadium in Funchal.

Beira Mar meanwhile have now lost four consecutive matches and were without the services of their star striker, Mario Jardel, who was sitting the game out due to injury.

The game got off to a slow start and the action was mostly confined to midfield. It was not until the 18th minute when the first opportunity arose as Jorge Leitao forced Maritimo goalkeeper Marcos to make a fine save and deflect the ball away for a corner.

This woke up Maritimo as Marcinho reciprocated the favour by the forcing Beira-Mar goalkeeper to make a fine stop of his own. Lipatin was then left with his head in his hands as he missed a golden opportunity in the 27th minute.

Jorge Leitao was left dumbfounded in the 33rd minute when Ratinho threaded the ball underneath Marcos and with the net wide open, Leitao picked up the ball and casually rolled it towards the net, only to have Wenio track back and clear the ball off the goal line. Beira-Mar’s danger man Jorge Leitao tried again to put his team up before the break but his header was saved on the goal line for a corner by Marcos.

Maritimo coach Ulisses Morais must have read his team the riot act during the interval as his team came out with all guns blazing and produced the first goal of the game in the 57th minute. Mbseuma, on loan from Portsmouth, latched onto a Marcinho ball and made no mistake to put Maritimo 1-0 up.

Beira-Mar were almost level in the 65th minute as substitute Wegno could not quite get enough on the ball after Gregory had made a mess of things. Gregory seemed to have his hands full with Wegno as the duo were at it again two minutes later with the same result.

Just when it seemed that Beira-Mar were going to draw level, an excellent individual effort by Ze Gomes in the 82nd minute made the visitors pay for their poor finishing as he put Maritimo 2-0 up.

Three minutes later Wegno managed to pulled one back to rekindle Beira-Mar’s hopes, and they almost nicked an equaliser when the ball clanked off the crossbar in the dying seconds of the game.

Maritimo coach, Ulisses Morais:

“It’s a great result. We are aware that it was not a good game. The road ahead continues to be difficult. We know that with this victory, we resolved nothing.”

“When the team starts to feel less inhibited, a little calmer, naturally the victories will be matched by a different quality of game. I believe in the future that this will happen because the players have quality.”

Beira-Mar coach, Augusto Inacio:

“I have to congratulate my players for their performance in this game, especially in the first half, when we wasted various opportunities to score. We did not manage to finish.”

“For what we did during the 90 minutes, we deserve another result. Naturally, after Maritimo scored, the game had another outlook, and our opponents played a game that suited them.”

Maritimo:
Marcos, Ze Gomes, Gregory, Jon Schewedler, Evaldo (Neca, 46), Filipe Oliveira, Wenio, Andre Barreto (Olberdam, 46), Marcinho, Lipatin (Kanu, 67), Mbesuma
Yellow Cards: Ze Gomes (83)

Beira-Mar:
Ale, Ricardo, Marco, Alcaraz (Jorge Silva, 77), Tininho, Diakite, Torrao (Wegno, 62), Ratinho, Vasco Matos, Jorge Leitao, Rui Lima (Diogo Macedo, 83)
Yellow Cards: Alcaraz (22), Marco (45)

Goals:
[1-0] Mbesuma, 57
[2-0] Ze Gomes, 82
[2-1] Wegno, 85