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| Sunday, 19 February 2012 23:50 |
Sporting scrape to win over PacosSporting 1-0 Pacos de Ferreira Ricardo Sa Pinto earned his first win as Sporting coach with a 1-0 victory at home to Pacos de Ferreira thanks to an own goal from Pacos defender Ricardo.
Sa Pinto made just one change to the team that earned a score-draw away to Legia Warsaw in midweek with the Europe-ineligible Elias replacing Matias Fernandez in midfield. Pacos de Ferreira, with five straight wins all competitions, came into the game as the in-form team of the two sides. The home side enjoyed the greater of the possession to start with but were lacking in creativity going forward, with the ball spending most of the time in and around the centre circle. Michel wastes chanceIt was Pacos de Ferreira who in fact had the best chance early on after fifteen minutes when Brazilian forward Michel found himself in acres of room behind the Sporting defence. His shot though went just wide of Rui Patricio's right hand post and a golden opportunity for the away side was lost.
There was bad news for Sporting just before the half-hour mark when Oguchi Onyewu injured himself in a tackle and had to be replaced by Daniel Carrico. Subsitute Carrico had an impact in the opening goal of the game when a Stijn Schaars freekick found its way into the net. Goalkeeper Cassio came to punch the cross but missed the mark and as Carrico made the challenge the ball bounced off the defending Ricardo and into his own goal. The first half ended with little goalmouth action, just three shots in the entire first half but the home side were firmly on top in the possession stats with Sa Pinto's side controlling 70% of the ball. After the restart the same pattern emerged with Sporting controlling the ball but once again Henirque Calisto's men were the first to have a chance on goal when Manuel Jose forced Rui Patricio into his first save of the game. Penalty controversyReferee Jorge Ferreira had his first major decision to make after 68 minutes when a Ricardo handball inside the penalty area led to a contentious spot kick. The decision was harsh on the defender who could do little to move his arm out of the way of the ball – it was simply not the Cape Verde defender’s night after having already scored an own goal.
The Pacos players were infuriated by the decision and it took a couple of minutes before the penalty could be taken. That extra delay may well have affected the outcome a, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, usually dependable from that range, hit a poor shot with no pace in a good area for Cassio to save. Replays showed that Cassio had come off his line to save it but the game continued The perceived injustice seemed to rile Pacos and they soon came close to levelling the score when Rui Patricio was forced to make three saves in the space of a minute to deny the away side. Sporting regained control of the match though and managed to see out the remainder of the game on top giving Ricardo Sa Pinto his first win as Sporting coach and keeping Sporting level on points with Maritimo in the table. There will be concern ahead of the Europa League second leg against Legia Warsaw on Thursday at the possible injuries to Oguchi Onyewu and Fabian Rinaudo, who looked to have picked up a knocks that may keep them out of the tie against the Polish side. Sporting: Rui Patricio, Joao Pereira, Onyewu (Carrico, 27), Polga, Insua, Elias, Rinaudo (Andre Santos, 63), Schaars, Carrillo, Van Wolfswinkel, Izmailov (Pereirinha, 60) Goal: [1-0] Ricardo, (o.g.) 36 by Richard Cole |
In any case the most important thing was to get the win at home. Not sure how pleased the 28,000 were, but a good turnout nonetheless.