Sporting mount up massive 36-8 CERS Cup aggregate

After already putting the tie to bed in the CERS Cup first-leg in Germany with a 17-5 win, Sporting breezed through the second-leg this Saturday afternoon against Cronenberg with a dominating 19-3 win, securing a place in the quarter-finals.

Poka opened the scoring with an effort from range in the 5th minute, before Molet tried to pull the Germans level with a shot that ended up wide of the mark. With the final outcome all but decided in the first-leg, Sporting had the enviable task of trying to tally up an even higher aggregate score and Losna (7') and Poka (8') were happy to oblige with two more early goals. It was all one-way stuff and after Cacau made it 4-0 and could have struck again, but Soriano managed to block his shot on the line.

Although the team from Alvalade were comfortably in the driving seat, Poka put in a particularly fierce performance and again struck in the 12th and 14th minute after some good link-up play with Cacau. With the scoreboard already reading 6-0, Nuno Lopes took the opportunity to ring the changes and the pace of the encounter slowed. Luís Viana was awarded a penalty, but was unable to convert. Both Centeno and João Pinto could have hit the seventh, but the next goal was made to wait until the 19th minute, when Centeno capitalised after Figueira failed from a decent opportunity. There was still time for Vester to pull a goal back for Cronenberg before half-time, although the place in the CERS Cup quarter-finals was really only a matter of time in coming.

The second-half brought a new avalanche of attacking play and Viana made it 8-1 in the 26th minute, before Cacau struck two minutes later after some smart individual play. Huvelmann reduced the difference to 9-2 with a shot from range, but it did little to get the visitors back into the action and Luís Viana brought up 12-2 after a pass from Poka in the 38th minute. Just seconds later, Cacau made it 13-2 after a pass from Viana and Borkei scored for Cronenberg.

The best way to truly show respect for your opponent is by giving them the result the deserve and Sporting were happy to oblige. Losna struck with a powerful shot across goal in the 39th minute (14-3), before João Pinto, Figueira, Losna and Cacau all rounded off the final aggregate score of 36-8.