Portugal round-up: Porto press on

FC Porto consolidated their position at the head of the Portuguese Super Liga with a 3-0 weekend defeat of SC Braga.

Huge lead
José Mourinho's side maintained their eleven-point advantage over third-placed Sporting Clube de Portugal, who beat Vitória Setúbal 2-1, ahead of their meeting in the next round of matches. SL Benfica, in second, did not play and are now just two points clear of Sporting.

Delicate chip
Yet it is Porto who continue to lead the way. They dominated the first half of Sunday's match against Braga but only opened the scoring in the dying moments when Nuno Capucho delicately chipped Braga goalkeeper Quim following Deco's fine pass.

Deco involved
The roles were reversed for the second goal, Capucho releasing the Brazilian playmaker who showed considerable skill to make it 2-0. Deco also played a part in the third, crossing from the right for Lithuanian striker Edgaras Jankauskas to complete the scoring in the 74th minute.

Sporting climb
The defending champions Sporting climbed to third the previous day, coming from behind to defeat Setúbal as Vitória Guimarães, who drop to fourth, were held to a 1-1 draw at SC Beira-Mar's Mário Duarte stadium.

Poured forward
A lapse in the Sporting defence allowed Mário Carlos to put Setúbal ahead in the 24th minute, a lead they held until five minutes after half-time when defender Rui Jorge scored from an indirect free-kick. The Lisbon side then poured forward in search of a winning goal, which arrived when captain Pedro Barbosa converted a penalty after Ricardo Quaresma was felled.

Last-minute leveller
In Aveiro, Guimarães had to rely on a last-minute equaliser from Carlos Manuel Fangueiro to salvage a point at lowly Beira-Mar. The visitors had Cléber dismissed for a professional foul in the 31st minute and Beira-Mar took advantage with 15 minutes left when Senegalese striker Fary Faye struck. The dismissal of Filipe hardly helped the home side's cause, and Fangueiro duly popped up to make it 1-1.

Two more dismissed
Elsewhere, midfield player Fernando Aguiar scored the only goal as UD Leiria defeated Boavista FC, while Moreirense FC and CS Marítimo drew 2-2 in a game which also saw two players sent off. Marítimo duo Wénio and Pepe were the men in question, both picking up second yellow cards in the final moments.

Spoils shared
Spoils were also shared on the islands as CD Santa Clara and FC Paços de Ferreira drew 0-0 in Azores and CD Nacional and CF Os Belenenses drew 1-1 in Madeira, midfield player Adriano scoring for the home team and striker Djalmir levelling for Belenenses.

Jorge returns
Finally, at the Sérgio Conceição Municipal stadium, coach Artur Jorge returned to Portuguese football after an eight-year hiatus as his Clube Académica de Coimbra side beat Varzim SC 2-1 to climb to 15th in the 18-team top flight. Fredy opened the scoring in the second minute and Varzim never recovered from Sérgio Carvalho's own goal 25 minutes later, though the same player did score at the correct end with ten minutes remaining.