Ledman LigaPro comes to a close with a draw in Braga

The Ledman LigaPro season game to a close with a 1-1 draw against Sp. Braga B this weekend, in a match which saw Luís Martins blood several new faces. In the end it was one of the youngsters who decided the result, with Rafael Leão netting on his senior debut in the dying stages.

João de Deus left speechless by a goal denied to his side in Saturday's loss to Sporting de Braga B

Speaking with the press at the final whistle after Saturday's loss to Sporting de Braga B, coach João de Deus did not hide his frustration at the day's refereeing.

"This is becoming an surreal situation in football. The referee apologised for what happened and he didn't have to. We all make mistakes. I do, my players do, we all do. This was an important match for us and we worked hard to turn things around and avoid he mistakes we have been making", said the Sporting CP B coach, going on to reflect on the Braga B goal scored after a puzzling decision by the assistant official: "I really don't know what to say. The refereeing team created a goal today and that cannot happen. This really has to stop. We all make mistakes, but like this it is impossible. What can I tell these young players? We played well, we were the best side in the second-half, we created chances, we did everything we could to score. In the second-half we were brave and equalised, but the match had already been messed around."

João de Deus' side denied in a match which saw another negative refereeing display

Sporting CP B missed out 2-1 to Sporting de Braga this weekend, on Ledman LigaPro matchday 21. It was yet another match brand by some highly debatable refereeing.

The match got off to a well balanced start, with possession held down in the midfield for long spells, until a puzzling decision in the 12th minute. Sualehe whipped in a free-kick, which was flicked on by Leonardo Ruiz to Pedro Delgado for the finish. Everything was normal up to this point, until the assistant referee, after making his way back to the halfway line in recognition of the goal, decided to rule out the strike. With Sporting CP B still in shock, Braga B made the most of the opportunity to go down the other end on the break and Xadas put an unstoppable shot past Pedro Silva.

In the space of two minutes, Sporting CP created two chances (20’ and 21’) to equalise through Pedro Delgado. The first was intercepted by the Braga B defence, while the second was stopped by the keeper. A spell of possession followed for João de Deus' side, but it was the visitors who looked dangerous and could have gone two up, had it not been for Kiki's fantastic tackle.

If the incidents earlier in the match were not enough, João de Deus' side were given even more of an uphill fight in the 48th minute, when Ivanildo Fernandes was sent off for a second booking. Looking to reorganise, Pedro Empis pushed out to the right and Sualehe dropped back down the left, while Abdu Conté joined Kiki in the heart of defence. Despite being a man down, Sporting CP B continued to fight on and their efforts were repaid in the 65th minute, when Ronaldo Tavares made the most of spilled save to level the scores. Despite Sporting CP B's best efforts, Braga B again took the lead nine minutes from time through Ogana.

João de Deus looking for his side to impose their style on the weekend's Ledman LigaPro encounter

João de Deus sat down with the press this Friday to speak ahead of the first Ledman LigaPro fixture of the new year, which will see Sporting CP B host Sporting de Braga B.

"We will do everything we can to make a good start to 2017, particularly because we didn't finish 2016 how we wanted to. This is a match that we consider as important for us, against a team that are above us in the table. A good result could project us up the league. It will be a good match to match, but we expect to dominate", said the Sporting CP B coach, adding: "We aren't far off the positions higher up the table, but the same goes for the more dangerous positions as well. Braga B are set up like their senior team and we have picked out some weaknesses."

David Sualehe expecting Sporting CP B to claim the three points this Saturday

Sporting CP B will face Sporting de Braga B this Saturday in an 15h00 kick-off, at the Sporting Academy.

Alvalade defender David Sualehe is expecting a hard game, but is confident in his side's chances of claiming the three points.

"We know this is an important match. We want to start turning in good results as soon as we can. We are in good form right now and training has been going very well. We have studied Sp. Braga B, we know how they organise themselves and we have been working on getting past them in training", said Sualehe in an interview this Friday. 

Betinho gola splits the points and sees Sporting B finish in 10th

Sporting B closed the Ledman LigaPro season with a 1-1 draw against Sp. Braga B this Saturday. Both goals came in the early stages, with Ogana striking for the hosts after just two minutes and Betinho levelling eight minutes later.

"We had a good first-half, despite the slip in concentration and letting in a really early goal. We were the better side, although our performance slipped a bit in the second-half because we knew that the result wouldn't make a difference in the league", said coach João de Deus at the final whistle, going on to reflect on the season as a whole: "We finished in a reasonable 10th place. We were a bit spent in terms of quality this year, but with a lot of work we did well collectively."

João de Deus on his side's loss to Sp. Braga B

"It was more of the same. Particularly in the second-half we created chances to score, but we just couldn't", opened João de Deus in his post-match press conference after the 1-0 loss to Sp. Braga B this weekend.

For the Sporting B coach, there was a lot to reflect on: "We showed quality in creating opportunities, but we failed with our finishing while our opponent made the most of theirs. We are frustrated with the result, but we will carry on working. It was just through a bit of inefficiency that we didn't score. We have won a couple of times through a bit of luck and today we lost because we were missing a bit of it."

“We have some important players our injured and some have left, so we have had to create a new dynamic in the squad. I think that everything will be back to normal given a bit of time. All we are missing is putting the ball in the back of the net", finished João de Deus.

Sporting B skipper reflects on his side's loss to Sp. Braga B

Francisco Geraldes received his award for November's II Liga Player of the Month, after his side's 1-0 loss to Sp. Braga B. Speaking at the final whistle, the Alvalade midfielder put the result down to missed chances.

“What was missing for us to get a different result was us converting our chances. We didn't create as many as we would have liked, but we didn't score from any of them. It would be worse if we didn't create any chances and all that is missing is a bit of concentration."

Francisco Geraldes was named Player of the Month on the 17th of December with 7.46% of votes cast, ahead of Gleison (FC Porto B, 6.95%) and Platiny (Feirense, 6.74%).

Sporting B slip to defeat on II Liga matchday 23

Sporting B lost out to Sp. Braga B 1-0 at the Sporting Academy, on II Liga matchday 23. João de Deus' side created more than enough chances to claim the spoils at the final whistle, however a clinical touch proved lacking in front of goal.

The game got off to a lukewarm start, with neither side threatening in the final third with the exception of a dangerous shot from Dramé that ended up in the side-netting and a clearance from Francisco Geraldes that thankfully finished up wide of his own goal.

The midfield battle finally broke in the 32nd minute, when Dramé found space down the right and put in a deep cross for Sacko, only for the Alvalade forward to put his header wide. Down the other end, Carlos Fortes put Braga B ahead after the visitors had won back possession in the area.

Sporting B took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second-half, but a ruthless streak in front of goal was missing and chance after chance went wanting. On 48 minutes, Sacko missed two golden opportunities: firstly from a header after a cross from Francisco Geraldes; then after some battling work in the area that was eventually smothered by the Braga B keeper, Tiago Pereira.

João de Deus responded by pushing his team into a more offensive footing, changing Zezinho for Fokobo and a few minutes later Cissé was put into the attack along side Ponde in an unusual 4x2x4 shape. On 62 minutes Francisco Geraldes saw a shot from range stopped by Tiago Pereira, before Sacko squandered another opportunity to equalise.

The last 20 minutes saw Braga B completely pegged back into their defensive third, but chances for Cissé in the 84th minute and Mama Baldé and Diogo Salomão in added-time were all unable to do justice to the final score.