An unusual day for football, but the Bank Holiday fixture didn’t live up to much. Another changed side saw Diogo10 playing central defence; his turn of speed helped but he had his work cut out trying to cover for Carlinhos 2.

Aljezurense are still struggling with,  I’m told, a 4-3-3 system and were over run in midfield which has so many holes in it that the opposition partied in the space. The home team, who had many ex Senior players from Benfica and Portamenese, hit passes into the holes and it wasn’t long before Aljezurense were on the back foot – only bad shooting allowed the score to remain 0 – 0 at halftime.

The second half saw Armacenenses get the upper hand.  Poor defending centrally from Aljezurense gave ample room for the home side to score, but the woodwork and Toco 13 came to the rescue.  A long ball from the Armacenense defence beat the visitors’ central defence, and Diogo 10 caught up with the ball only to lash it out for a corner. Crosses had been a nightmare for the Aljezurense defence and the ensuing corner bounced dangerously in the penalty area before the ball was hit in goal off the post 0 – 1.

Aljezurense seemed to rally for a short while and won 2 free kicks within shooting range, firstly Sam 9 then Dani 23 came close but that was the end of any revival. Soon the Aljezurense were beaten again through the centre, and the home forward was brought down about 30m from goal. The free kick was soon helped into the net by a forward’s head and the match was over.

Clearly a settled side would help Aljezurense’s cause greatly and of course it’s still early days as far as the season goes. The team needs to keep its shape as most of the problems arise from this, at times the midfield flank of either side is left open and this space causes the defence to be flat footed.

Probably a 4 – 4 – 2 system would help to settle the side for the moment, and give greater stability allowing Sam and Dani the run of the forward space.