Francisco Geraldes on his side's draw with Gil Vicente and injury to King

Francisco Geraldes mirrored his coach's comments after Sporting B's draw with Gil Vicente, overshadowed by the injury to Seejou King.

“We don't know anything yet, but an injury to a teammate is the worst thing that can happen. Although we don't know exactly what happened, unfortunately it will take a long time. In relation to the draw, of course we are not happy because we wanted the three points. We have to look at where we went wrong and put it right for our next match. Gil Vicente closed in defence, but we were expecting that. Now we will focus on winning the three point ts against Ac. Viseu."

Afternoon marked by serious injury for King

Sporting B were held to a 1-1 draw by Gil Vicente this Saturday in a match marked by a serious injury picked up by King just before half-time.

The encounter got off to a balanced start, with the ball largely bogged down in midfield. As a result, the first chance on goal didn't come until after quarter of an hour, when Rafael game close after taking advantage of a defensive slip. Five minutes later, Labyad pulled a fine save out of the home keeper, before Rafael Barbosa also saw another effort denied by the Gil Vicente shotstopper.

The afternoon looked to be heading for half-time incident free, before a tackle from Goba saw Seejou King come away with a serious injury and the Gil Vicente player sent off.

Sporting B tried to make the most of the extra man and on 58 minutes Ryan Gauld followed up on a rebound shot by Viola to open the scoring. However, the lead only lasted for seven minutes, as Djamal leveled for the hosts.

The result keeps Sporting B in second place with 29 points.

João de Deus on the weekend's trip to Barcelos

Sporting B will travel to Barcelos tomorrow to face Gil Vicente, on II Liga matchday 17. Speaking with the press in a pre-match press conference, João de Deus affirmed the encounter as a chance to put right last Wednesday's loss in Chaves.

“We will be looking to do what we tried to do in our last game: to win. That is always our intention, no matter who we play against. Unfortunately that didn't happen in Chaves. We were close, but an error cost us", opened the Sporting B coach, before looking more specifically at Gil Vicente: "Gil Vicente still haven't lost at home in the league, but we are ready. Quick counter-attacks have been our best weapon, but it isn't our only way of getting a teams. We want to dominate as much as possible and of course we know that we will do that more sometimes than other, but we are ready."

To finish, João de Deus congratulated Gelson Martins and Matheus for their performance with the senior squad in the Europa League on Thursday night: "With every game this season, more and more examples are coming out that help to motivate the lads and to show them that they are really close to reaching the top level. We are really happy for Gelson, Matheus and Daniel, who are all earning their place. That makes us work even harder to get more players through."

Gil Vicente-Sporting B will kick off at 16h00 on Saturday the 28th of November, in Estádio Cidade de Barcelos.