30 September 2006, by Marco Pereira

Late Nei show snatches points for Naval

Naval 2-1 Beira-Mar

The BWIN Liga’s surprise team of the season, Naval, stole all three points from what looked like a sure defeat to Beira-Mar on Friday night. Naval’s Nei scored two goals in injury time after his team had gone one down with just five minutes of normal time remaining.

The game started with neither team giving the other space to move or create any clear opportunities. The fist chance came in the 23rd minute when Nei headed a cross from Lito into the side-netting.

Beira-Mar wasted a glorious opportunity one minute later as Mario Jardel was left unmarked and looked odds on to score with one of his trademark headers, only to miss the net completely.

At this point of the game Jardel looked to be in discomfort as he kept clutching his right shoulder. Both teams went into the break deadlocked at 0-0 without either side producing much in the way of goal-scoring chances.

At the re-start, the game continued much in the same vein, with most of the play confined to midfield. As expected Jardel was substituted in the 64th minute as the Brazilian poacher could not continue with the pain in his right shoulder and made way for Vasco Matos.

Late goal rush

In the 86th minute the game burst into life as Beira-Mar substitute, Andre, looked to have given the visitors the win with a fine piece of skill. The striker controlled a cross on his chest and without letting the ball hit the ground blasted it with his left foot into the back of the net.

With the game seemingly won, Beira-Mar’s defender Buba lost possession in the box, allowing Leo Guerra to get in a shot. The effort was stopped by goalkeeper Danrlei, but fellow striker Nei showed his sharpness and pounced on the rebound to make it 1-1.

Still reeling from the setback, Beira-Mar allowed Naval to culminate their miraculous comeback as the team from Figueira de Foz pounced again.

Nei bagged a brace and his 4th goal of the season with a similar strike to his first. The striker was fed the ball from the right by Mario Sergio, headed the ball against defender, Jorge Vidigal, but picked up his own rebound and tucked it into the net.

Naval coach Rogerio Goncalves was beaming after the dramatic win and felt that his team deserved the three points: “It was good to win. We had some luck in the manner we obtained the victory, but from the beginning to the end of the match, we always had the better of the game.”

“Beira-Mar were lucky to get their goal, but we did not give up and ended up with the win. We deserved this result.”

His opposite number, Augusto Inacio, was obviously despondent and feels the loss could have damaging effects on his team: “It hurts a lot to have lost this way, when we were winning with a few minutes left in the game. Now we have to regroup the players from this result, but it is obvious that this type of loss leaves marks.”

Naval:
Taborda, Mario Sergio, Paulao, Fernando (Leo Guerra, 87), China, Orestes, Pedro Santos (Saulo, 63), Gilmar, Fajardo (Tony, 75), Nei, Lito
Yellow Cards: Paulao (69)

Beira-Mar:
Danrlei, Jorge Vidigal, Jorge Silva (Marco, 78), Buba, Tininho, Emerson, Diakite, Wegno, Ratinho (Andre, 77), Rui Lima, Jardel (Vasco Matos, 64)
Yellow Cards: Jorge Vidigal (59), Wegno (81)

Goals:
[0-1] Andre, 86
[1-1] Nei, 90
[2-1] Nei, 90