Matheus, Geraldes, Gauld and Zezinho on target in Sporting B win

Sporting claimed a third win of the II Liga campaign this weekend, with a dominating performance against Oriental.

It was actually Oriental who made the stronger start and the hosts smartly went about building some early chances, however it wasn’t long before Sporting took control of the encounter and after just 6 minutes, Rafael Barbosa set up Matheus Pereira for the game’s opener. Ponde could have extended the lead on two occasions, but his first attempt was saved by the Oriental keeper and his second ended up wide.

Geraldes was next to threaten, but his 27th minute shot from range fished up on the wrong side of the post. Oriental had a dominating spell on the half-hour mark and did manage to hold down long spells of possession, but, with the exception of a 39th minute header against the post, Sporting B looked unlikely to concede nan equaliser.

The action was soon back down the other end and and King threw a well-placed cross into the box that Francisco Geraldes linked up with to double Sporting B’s lead.

The second-half got underway with three good chances for Oriental: firstly Fernando set up Firmino for a header that was put wide, before Daniel Almeida did the same thing after a free-kick and Peter also missed the target at the far post. Down the other end, Ryan Gauld essentially guaranteed the three points with a shot across goal after some good played by Podence down the right.

Oriental continued to search for a consolation late on, before Zezinho collected a loose ball to net Sporting B’s fourth.