João Mário on his side's 3-1 win against Paços de Ferreira

João Mário came off the bench to put in a solid second-half in his side's 3-1 League Cup win this Tuesday.

“We started well and we scored, but we let in a goal before the break. In the second-half we took the lead again and we could have won by more, but we were a bit sloppy in front of goal. It was a good win in a competition that we want to do well in", said the Portuguese international at the final whistle.

Sporting in the driving seat in the League Cup

Jorge Jesus had already made it clear in his pre-match press conference that his side would be looking for an extended run in the League Cup, while keeping in mind the January 2nd league encounter with FC Porto. As expected, the Sporting boss rang the changes to his side and it was the inclusion of Gelson Martins and Matheus Pereira that proved the difference on the night, in an impressive 3-1 win over Paços de Ferreira.

Although Paços fought hard to smoother out Sporting's attacks early on, there was little the visitors could do out wide. Montero picked up possession and fed back to Jefferson and the Brazilian obliged with a cross that Gelson guided towards Aquiliani for the Italian to open the scoring from the edge of the box after 8 minutes. Next try his luck from range was Arien, but the Alvalade skipper's effort was kept out by Defendi. Barnes made the most of a loose ball to send a shot toward's Marcelo's goal, but it was all one-way traffic as the half progressed. Matheus picked out André Matrins in the 37th minute, but the midfielder's effort when isolated in front of goal lacked pace and was stopped by Defendi.

Sporting looked certain to take a lead in at the break, but a seemingly harmless free-kick saw Marcelo tricked by a shot by Christian to level the score at half-time in what was miles away from being a true reflection of the action so far.

The break worked wonders for Jesus' side, who immediately created two chances for Montero (shot over the bar, 46’) and André Martins (header defended by Defendi, 48’). However, the third attempt proved the trick, when Matheus found Jefferson charging forward. The Brazilian's initial cross took a deflection, but Gelson was on hand to collect and put Sporting back into a deserved lead. Christian tried to get Paços back into it with a shot from range, but Sporting were looking far to long and another goal was inevitable.

Paulo Oliveira popped up in the area and put a header just wide eight minutes after the hour mark, before Bryan Ruiz finished off the result after being picked out by another deadly pass from Mathes. Slimani hit the post twice in the dying stages (82’ and 90+2’), but it made little difference to a convincing victory that sees Sporting close 2016 on a high.

Jorge Jesus ahead of League Cup encounter with Paços de Ferreira

Jorge Jesus spoke with Sporting TV ahead of the League Cup encounter with Paços de Ferreira, setting out his stall for what he sees as another opportunity to bring silverware to Alvalade.

“I am expecting a hard game against an opponent that has proven difficult in the league. We are coming into this game after the holiday season and neither team will be at their best, but we will use the game to give some of the lads a run out and to contribute to the competitiveness of the squad. Some players who have played a lot in the league could be picked, but we have an important game coming up do we will be mixing up ideas a bit. Both Matheus and Gelson have been important for balancing out the squad. We will go into the League Cup with the objective of winning it. My objective is to overcome the idea that Sporting doesn't win this kind of competition, which is what I was brought in for."

“Paços de Ferreira is one of those teams that isn't playing for the top places, but that has the quality to fight for a place in the Europa League. They have had a good start to the season and they will cause problems for us. They are one of those sides who put everything into the cup competitions and their coach will use his best team", added the Sporting coach, continuing: “The squad have come back in good form after the break and we have been pushing hard in training these last two days. We haven't got any medical problems except the ones we had with Teo, Tobias, Bruno Paulista and Mané, who was injured with the national team and hasn't recovered yet. William has a bit of a problem which isn't serious, but he won't be in the squad."

Jesus went on to reflect on seeing 8,000 fans turn out to see his squad train on the 26th of December, as well as on his time so far at the Sporting helm: "Only a lot of passion and faith brings that many fans out and the fact that so many were young people is promising for the future. The team has to fight to bring back the prestige of this club and that is what the president and board are working to do. It has been great here so far and I wasn't expecting us to be where we are right now. We were at the top of the league for a long time and I wasn't expecting that, because Benfica and FC Porto are really strong. It is all credit to the work we have been putting in, just like we did in the Europa League to come back from a bad start. The players deserve the credit, because they have shown that they believe they can win the league. We are on the right track, we have won back some of our pride and we are feeling what it is to be Sporting."

Sporting-Paços de Ferreira will kick-off at 20h00 on Tuesday, in Estádio José Alvalade.