Two first-half goals enough to sink Chaves at the Sporting Academy

Sporting B beat one of Ledman LigaPro's strongest sides at the Sporting Academy this Wednesday, with two goals in the first twenty minutes.

The first opportunity of the afternoon came through Daniel Podence - who would be a constant pest for the opposition defence - as he controlled well with his back to goal after an excellent pass from Ryan Gauld. However, the Sporting B striker hesitated and eventually hit the woodwork. The warning shot had been fired and a goal came from Sporting B's second chance, this time with Podence turned creator down the left flack, before crossing a ball in that Francisco Geraldes guided home at the far post.

Chaves struggled to stop Sporting's well constructed football and Podence again had another chance to get his name on the scoresheet after Ponde forced a mistake out of goalkeeper Paulo Ribeiro. However Podence was once again unable to capitalise.

Chaves responded and pushed back up the other end, but Mama Baldé positioned himself well to turn away for a corner. The hosts' rally didn't last long and Podence compensated for his earlier misses with Sporting B's second goal. Pedro Martins won back possession in the midfield, before releasing Daniel Podence for a superb finish when through against Paulo Ribeiro.

The second goal saw João de Deus side drop back and chances consequently began to thin out for the rest of the half, with the exception of one offside ruling after Sporting B had again found the back of the net.

The second-half was much of the same and although Chaves held down more possession, Sporting B looked largely untroubled in defence and played out the rest of the fixture to claim the three points. 

Sporting CP B held to draw in Estádio 25 de Abril

Sporting B were held to a draw by Penafiel this weekend, on Ledman LigaPro matchday 38. The team from Alvalade were actually leading 2-0 at the break, but the hosts battled back to split the points.

Buoyed by a superb performance against Oliveirense, João de Deus' side made a solid start to the encounter and took instant constrol of the action. Shell shocked by the visitors' offensive onslaught, Penafiel broke after just five minutes, when Chaby picked out Ryan Gauld for the Scotsman to tuck away a classy chip.

The early goal did little to slow Sporting down, against a Penafiel side that are on a fantastic run of 13 matches without a single defeat. Domingos Duarte flicked on a corner and Ruben Ribeiro managed to find a yard of space to score his first senior goal, with a shot across the face of the keeper (29’). Penafiel had a couple of chances before the break through Gonçalo Abreu and Kalindi, but Stojkovic never really looked in danger.

The second-half was much of the same, with Sporting B bossing proceedings and Ryan Gauld leading the charge. The young midfielder threatened from a free-kick in the 50th minute and Podence also had a chance four minutes later, before Pedro Ribeiro narrowly escaped a red card after an dangerous high tackle on Francisco Geraldes. It was actually that incident which flipped the game on its head, with the visitors taking advantage of their aggressive streak to peg Sporting B back into their own half and reduce the deficit from the penalty spot in the 65th minute.

Although still leading, Sporting B looked shaken and the encounter's earlier dashes forward from Ryan Gauld, Podence and Francisco Geraldes began to fade away. Penafiel finally drew level in the 76th minute, when Yero made the most of a loose ball in the area to fire a shot past the helpless Stojkovic.

Tribute to Fernando Mendes

The Portuguese League today announced a minute of silence at the start of all Liga NOS fixtures on matchday 28 and in Ledman LigaPro matchday 28, in tribute to Sporting's eternal captain, Fernando Mendes.

The statement from the League notes: "Fernando Mendes was national champion in 1958 and 1962 and was the captain of the Sporting team that won the Cup Winners' Cup (1964). As a coach, he was also won the youth (92/93) and senior (79/80) championships)."

The president of the Portuguese Football Federation also commented on the loss of Fernando Mendes: "It is with great sadness that I heard of the death of Fernando Mendes. He was a great player for the national team and Sporting Clube de Portugal, as well as being an icon for Portuguese coaches. Serving his club, he won three titles, a Cup Winners' Cup and he always did Portuguese football proud."

Francisco Barão on Sporting B's win this Sunday

The Sporting B coach Francisco Barão took a moment to speak with the press after his side's 5-0 win against Oliveirense this Sunday.

“Goals came naturally. It was 3-0 after half an hour I think. This match was the correction of what we have been failing to do. When you score the first goal, it changes the game a bit and lets us play how we want, because it opes up more space. The first-half was really good. We took our foot off the accelerator a bit in the last ten minutes, but we tuned a few things at half-time and made sure we bossed the second-half as well", said Barão.

Filipe Chaby highlights the importance of his side's return to form

The scorer of two of Sporting B's goals in this Sunday's 5-0 win against Oliveirense, Filipe Chaby, stressed the importance of his team's return to their best form, ahead of the run in towards the end of this season's Ledman LigaPro campaign.

“Our attitude made it easy and this is what we work hard in training to do. It went well for us today and we are really happy for having won. I scored two and of course I am happy with contributing to the team. This is the kind of thing that sporting is used to. Things haven't gone that well for us this season, but II Liga is much better now", said Chaby at the final whistle.

Sporting B put five past Oliveirense at the Sporting Academy

Sporting B rediscovered their winning form this Sunday with an emphatic 5-0 win against Oliveirense, on Ledman LigaPro matchday 37. Filipe Chaby scored two, while Francisco Geraldes, Podence and Luís Elói also found the back of the net.

Guilherme Oliveira comes off the bench to make penalty stop

Guilherme Oliveira come off the bench to save a penalty in Sporting B's win this Sunday afternoon, after Vladimir Stojkovic was shown a red card.

“It was more of an instinctive save. We study our opposition before the game and we know more or less how each player will take a penalty. I knew which way he would put it and I just threw everything that way. I managed to make a save, but the key thing was how we worked together when we were a man down", said the young goalkeeper at the final whistle, adding: "Santa Clara where pressing us a lot. We tried to do everything we could to hold out and what matters is that we won three points."

Sporting B continue Ledman LigaPro revival

Sporting B continued their recent revival of form with a 2-1 win over Santa Clara this weekend, courtesy of strikes from Cristian Ponde (5') and Daniel Podence (29').

It really was a game of two halves at the Sporting Academy. João de Deus' side, although the Sporting B coach watched from the stands after being sent off midweek, made a dominating start, moving possession around well and thoroughly deserving an early goal. Mama Baldé put in another sterling performance at left-back, this time building Cristian Ponde's 5th minute goal with a pass into the middle of the 18-yard box. Secured by the early strike, Santa Clara fought back into the encounter and on 13 minutes the visitors came close to leveling through Hamdou, but Stojkovic pulled off a stop on his line to keep Sporting B ahead.

The team from Alvalade were soon back in control and a minute before the half-hour mark Podence doubled his side's lead after Mama Baldé battled back possession an released Matheus Pereira for the eventual pass that was converted by Daniel Podence. Six minutes before the break, Rúben Ribeiro could have made it three, but his header was finally cleared away after defecting off the crossbar.

The visitors from the Azores looked more determined to make a game of it in the second-half and after just a minute of play they were threatening goal, after Stojkovic failed to smother that ended up at the feet of Clemente. The Sporting B keeper tried to deny the resulting opportunity, but was only able to bring down the Santa Clara front man for a penalty and a red card. Guilherme Oliveira was called on off the bench and the young goalkeeper repaid the confidence with a save from 12 yards. Not to be dissuaded, Santa Clara continued to press, but Sporting B stood firm despite being a man down and managed to hold off the visitors' late rally.

Pedro Campos names for Ledman LigaPro matchday 35

Pedro Campos, 32, from the Porto Football Association, has been named to take charge of Sporting B's hosting of Santa Clara.

Renato Barqueira and Bruno Ferreira will act as linesmen.

This will be Campos' third time officiating over Sporting B, after matchday 14 against Oliveirense and matchday 25 against Mafra.

Sporting B-Santa Clara will get underway at 11h on Sunday the 13 of March, at the Sporting Academy.

João de Deus sent off, but happy with his side's 3-1 win

João de Deus saw the first red card of his career this Wednesday. However, with spirits high after seeing his side win for the five outings, the Sporting B coach proved willing to speak with the press at the final whistle. "I think I owe an apology, because I am a father of two and I was sent off. I asked if it would be worth us coming out for the second-half and I want to speak about what happened, because it is the first time in many years that I have been sent off. I accept that I was sent off, but I don't except that Tiago (Sporting B goalkeeping coach) was", said the Alvalade boss.

Although without their coach on the sidelines, Sporting B scored twice in the second-half to close out a 3-1 win. “It wasn't only in the second-half that we should have been ahead by two goals. In the first-half we also had the best chances to score. Daniel scored and I think he would have had another one, but he was stopped by an opponent in a debatable situation. In the second-half we showed more quality and it is normal that Sporting B's players are better than Atlético in terms of quality", affirmed Deus, going on to finish: "The difference between the first and the second-half was that we played some more serious stuff."