Aljezurense started 2013 entertaining the League Leaders, and with several players side lined through injury and suspension it was not going to be plain sailing.  Aljezur fell foul of a sly trick from a corner with everyone caught flat footed a simple cross on the line found a defender’s foot and they were one goal down after 4 mins.

Aljezur rallied but quick breaks from the visitors’ defence too often left the home defence floundering, and only quick recovery work and some good keeping kept the score at 0-1.

Mid way through the first half with Aljezurense were on the attack a needless challenge from behind on Andrie Pope gave the hapless referee no alternative but to point to the spot. Up stepped the lively Sam to slam the ball into the net to level the scores.

This gave Aljezurense the spur they needed and were soon in the ascendancy and two fine saves from Sam and Dani’s efforts kept the visitors in the match.

Half Time   Aljezurense 1 – 1 Moncarapachense 

The second half started much the same as the first, the home side were still being caught at the back by quick slick movement from the visitors, and it was not long before one of the breaks cost the home side.  From defending a corner, Moncarapachense played the ball forward and the home defence were 4 against 1 down, and the pass across goal left the visitors with an open goal 1-2.

Sam, Dani, Tiago and Noel were battling hard but the need for a tactical change from the coach never came. Still the break a ways were coming thick and fast and Aljezurense fell further behind from a goal identical to the second.

Jardel was introduced up front and his height caused a few problems for the visitors and he and Sam went close but the visitors’ custodian did well and kept the score line the same.

Still Aljezur battled but with 2 goals the difference, it was difficult to see how they could get level and with 10 mins. to go once again the defence were caught from a quick cross field pass.  Noel unluckily intercepted the ball but it dropped to the visitors and the keeper who was caught half and half was easily beaten to give them a well earned 3 points.

The good news is that the injured  Toco, Andrie and Lawrence should soon be available, Victor has now served his 2 match ban and Kieran is back from England and was on the bench for this match.

The main worry is the little action shown from the trainer who could have secured the back line of defence by a few changes and Kieran was the likely change to make. With a stronger back four Moncarapenches might have struggled and this would give a better platform for the midfield and forwards.

All in all not totally a bad show, and with results going Aljezuense’s way, they stay above the drop zone and hopefully onto better results this New Year.

The Local derby, and everyone seemed up for it, but this all soured when Aljezurense found themselves 0 – 2 down after 240 seconds. The first, when a bad pass found a visiting player and the ball was knocked forward to an unmarked forward who looked a long way off side, his cross shot buried its self in the roof of the home goal.

The second another  poor pass being intercepted and again a cross shot from the left made it 0 – 2 and only six Aljezurense players had touched the ball, one of those being Sam who had kicked off twice.

The visitors were now rampant and were first to most balls, and hit tackles like they were going to win at all costs as to date they had only won one match. Exceptionally poor officials were allowing some tackles that were serious fouls to go, and sad to say the visitors had started time wasting from the second goal.

Yet another new line up saw Eddy 14 on the bench as well as Diago 10. There is still no pattern to the play with, Lawrence 8, Dani 23 and Serra 16 in mid field but all playing centrally.  The holes left in front of the defence on the flanks expose the full backs, and time and time again the opposition took great advantage of these.

Lawrence tried hard to slide balls to the forwards as did Dani but generally the passes went missing mainly due to the will to win by the visitors.

Aljezurense although playing badly, had 4 good chances to score.  First Sam 9 had a good shot saved on the line, Carlinhos 2 miss headed a corner with the goal open from within the goal area, Joao doing the same just after, and just before halftime Lawrence snapped at a shot that the keeper saved.

Half Time Aljezurense 0 – 2 Monchiquense

Changes were expected but non happened and much the same continued. Passes were going astray, time wasting, and visiting players screaming for fouls that the hapless referee agreed to.  Aljezurense needed to relax on the ball and play telling passes but it was not to be.

Carlinhos 2 missed three goal opportunities one when he managed to head the ball over the bar from 3 metres with the goal in front of him undefended, the second another header from a corner from the edge of the goal area went wide. Another with a weak shot from 10 metres straight at the keeper.

Both sides were reduced to 10 men when Serra 16  was sent from the field for retaliation and the opposing defender went for the initial attack.  The visiting goalkeeper got in on the act and threw himself to the ground screaming blue murder to waste more time.

Aljezurense at last got some good play together with Diogo 10 introduced to the game.  His speed caused problems to the visitors and a good cross from him found Sam 9 who on the second attempt made the score 1 – 2.

It was all Aljezurense now and they carved out several chances to level the score but failed. With 5 minutes to go Calinhos was dismissed for something he said to the Referee,  leaving the home team floundering, and with all out attack by the home team looking for a point the defence were out run and the visitors made the score 1 – 3 with a long shot into an empty net.

It now looks like a bottom three position will be the best that can be achieved, this display was abysmal not only individually but team wise there still is no shape, pattern or set piece skills. Why send certain defenders forward for set piece chances when they do not have the simple ability to head a ball other than let the ball hit them. It’s time to have a settled side and at least play the same team on a regular basis. Missing one training session seems a ridiculous reason to be dropped especially as the players are not professional and have other commitments.

Sort the defence and midfield out play 4-4-2 to give greater strength to the defence in depth and spread the midfield across the width of the pitch. The players look beat before they start and this must change to see better results, generally the majority of the squad are far better than the results show and the New Year must see these changes before the team gets caught too far behind in the bottom 3 positions.

Bad officials in this league is not an excuse and players get frustrated by this but unfortunately you have to take it on the chin and graft out results, encourage each other and have faith in your ability, doing this might just turn things around.

 After exceptionally heavy rain and with a strong wind Aljezurense entertained Culaterense on a partially waterlogged surface.

Aljezurense had made little change to the side defeated last week with Lawrence18 being replaced by Serra 16. The system of play was still the same with large gaps appearing in midfield especially on the right. Aljezur had little joined up play although the visitors were not much better. Dani 23 was getting on the ball more and more and his crisp passing carved out two chances for both Diogo 10 and Serra 16 miss kicking the simplest of chances.

Through some slack marking The visitors won a corner on the right and the cross found yet another unmarked forward at the back post with the simplest of chances, 0-1.

From this the visitors gained in strength and attacks came more frequently and Aljezurense were on the back foot, but for all their attacking Culatrense made no other gains and the half ended still at 0-1.

The second half continued much as the first although Eddy 14 gained in stature and started many attack from his central midfield position. Sam 9 ran and fought hard but the swirling wind made it difficult to control the longer passes.

Towards the end of the second half Aljezurense gained the advantage but no real goal scoring opportunities came their way in open play but they were unlucky from free kicks with first Dani 23 and both Tiago 5 and Joao 7 pulling the best out of the visiting keeper alas the final score ended 0-1.

The best sight of the day was to see Noel 17 come off the bench, although not fully fit he will in the near future tighten the defence, Both Andre 20 and Leandro 6 are still injured and hopefully they will soon be available to also give competition at the back, hopefully Lawrence will return to give some flair to midfield and a more settled side might reap some much needed points.

The league now indicates that the bottom 3 will go into next seasons newly formed 2^nd Division, not a place Aljezurense needs to be, but at present they only have a 4 point cushion.

This column has been critical in the past of some players, at least this match saw more commitment from the whole side.

Next week Aljezurense were to be at home to Silves but it appears Silves have been given a few weeks to recover from the devastation to their ground left by the Tornado. Watch this web site for update.

Having had a fine game last Sunday, Saturday football resumed at Albufeira for Aljerzurense against Imortel who were a few places below them in the league.

Before a ball could be kicked in anger in the warm up Rafael 15, the long throw specialist was injured and did not make the kick off. The manager chose Catita 11 a normal wide player to play at full back, not the wisest choice as his defensive qualities were never seen. Aljezur were reasonably happy except for the hole in the central defence that was always causing problems even against a side that continually played balls back from the half way line to their keeper and only had chances that were given to them through poor defending.

After half an hour a silly free kick was awarded for a slight tackle by Catita and the free kick was delivered into the Aljezurense goal area with the whole defence flat footed, this of course could be zonal marking but as no one was marking anyone the ball was headed past Toco to give the home side the lead at halftime.

The second half saw a change in the defence with Diogo moving into midfield and Africano coming on to make the back four the slowest in the league. Imortel changed some of their tactics and now the home goalkeeper was launching long balls forward with continual ease, and the Aljezurense defence floundered time and time again. Carlinhos 2 won little all day and his inability to deal with the simplest of tasks enabled a home forward to get the better of the defence and the ball was lashed into the goal to give the home team a 2 – 0 advantage.

Lawrence was brought off and Joao 7 entered the fray but time after time the Aljezurense central defence  was woeful and if not for the skill of Toco, the score might have entered double figures.

The final 10 minutes saw the best of Aljezurense when firstly Tiago 5 who glided past the home defender to hit a fierce left foot shot from 25 metres but the ball grazed the far post.  Then a free kick on the right found Joao 7 whose glancing header beat the keeper but slipped past the far post.

Imortel are a poor outfit and will find this season difficult but Aljezurense were on the day appalling, probably the worst they have played in 2 seasons. As stated before the team needs shape and some pattern of play, Tiago, Toco and Dani fought hard with Sam having little help going forward. Jardel 21 was abysmal up front and gave little target for the midfield to hit. Eddy tried hard but after Lawrence was substituted the midfield was over whelmed and Dani was left to try and sweep up.

Diogo gets by in defence as his speed gets him to the ball quicker generally than the opposition forwards but he finds it difficult to pick up players and is a much better player going forward as late in the second half showed.

Still Aljezurense are not too many points adrift from the top sides and need to hold on and pick up points until Noel and Andre return to strengthen the defence.

What a difference a day makes.  Our first Sunday game with the rain holding off, yet another changed side ran out to greet the visitors. It’s difficult to say what is going on,  maybe a new rotation system, with both Sam 9 and Lawrence 8  on the bench for the start, on a pitch that in places resembled a lake.

Aljezurense started well and it was not long before weaknesses in the visitors team began to show.  Some play acting and fouling off the ball began their down fall, and soon gaps started to appear. The Aljezurense midfield although still leaving big holes on the flanks at times, pressed well and midway through the half after both Jardel 21 and Dani 23 had gone close, a throw in was won on the right side. Up stepped the long throw specialist Rafael 15, wiping the ball on the strategically placed towel, to send the ball looping into the visitors penalty area.  The defence froze and Dani 23 with the slightest of glances nudged the ball home 1 – 0.

Aljezurense were now looking assured of victory, and several attempts at goal came but alas no goals. The visiting side’s frustration was showing and several yellow cards were shown for stupid fouls.  Aljezurense pressure soon paid off and Serra 16 hit a hopeful shot from 40m that struck a visiting defender and the ball looped into the air.  Jardel, totally unmarked, latched on and his looping header beat the stranded keeper from 20m entering the net unchallenged.  2 – 0 and halftime.

The second half started the way the first half ended, with Aljezurense in charge.  Although the central defence looked vulnerable, Diogo 10 cleared up from some sloppy marking. The visitors were continuing with their not so subtle ways of tackling and more yellow cards were shown.

Mid way through the second half Dani pressing forward, found Andrei 18 with a pin point pass, and cutting into the penalty area from the flank beating the visitors defence, he hit a fierce shot past the helpless keeper to open his account with Aljezurense, 3 – 0.

Aljezurense brought on Lawrence and Sam and much of the same ensued.  The visitors were reduced to 9 men after more yellow cards made red and a sloppy piece of defending allowed the referee to point to the spot, and the visitors made the final score 3 – 1.

The home supporters, happy with the result, talked about Jekel and Hyde football over the last two games, but can see that the squad is strong and with defenders soon to return from injury,  all bodes well for the future.