Well, after an early morning start and a even longer drive to the depths of Winston, The Porto band wagon rolled into town on the back of a tournament win in Lake Norman. The side was fully refreshed and ready to roar and get back onto league action.
The game began with Porto looking the more awake and taking the game to the TESC side. Porto were somewhat unfortunate however to find themselves behind through a tame goal from the edge of the box. Porto didn't sweat though as only 7 minutes later the quick attacking prowess of Porto broke through and enabled Thomas to score Porto's first. Porto took the league not long after with another break away, which saw game MVP Kevin slot the ball past the helpless keeper. With the game at 2-1, TESC had no answers for Porto and could not unlock the power of authority that Porto was showing. In the words of coach to his bench on the 26th minute of the half "It will be our own stupidity that let's them back into the game" It seemed those words would haunt the Porto game as not a minute later Porto suddenly stopped playing and with a silly mistake a free kick was given which was dispatched with power from the TESC player. With this rattling Porto coach tried to calm the players, but for some reason the boys had lost their way and disaster struck with again a defensive failure to clear led to a scramble which resulted in a moment that turned the game and ruined what was a very good contest. A shock red card was given to team captain Nicholas who was alleged to have deliberately handballed, despite the ball hitting his elbow and no one being able to clearly see the incident. None the less a red card was shown and with the resulting penalty Porto were going into the half 2-3 down
Coach needed to get a grip of his team who clearly were distraught regards the events and with now having to play the game one man down, it would need many players to step up and work hard to leave the field with their heads high.
As the second half got underway, it was clear that many were still distressed and this resulted in two very tame goals going in for TESC. Wants Porto got their composure and again being led with a very authoritive figure in Kevin in the central role, Porto did have their chances and could have scored a couple of goals as Thomas, Max and Kevin all went close. TESC would finish the game with probably their only truly deserved goal with a well taken volley, but when the dust settles it will be the referee that leaves his mark on a game with the potential of being a classic! FT 2-6
