Last-gasp Hjulmand header gives Sporting 2-1 victory over Santa Clara in the Azores | OneFootball

An intensely contested encounter in São Miguel tonight ended in dramatic fashion as captain Morten Hjulmand scored in stoppage time for a Sporting team that had been reduced to ten men to snatch a 2-1 win against Santa Clara.

The home players were furious given that the winning goal came from a corner erroneously awarded by the referee, with Adriano and Sydney Lima losing their heads and both getting sent off before the final whistle was blown.

Santa Clara had taken the lead early on through Vinícius, with Pedro Gonçalves equalising in the first half. Sporting huffed and puffed on a difficult surface as the rain-soaked pitch cut up badly during the match, and when Maxi Araújo was sent off at the end of normal time it seemed a draw was the most the reigning champions would get. However, the late drama sees the Lions return from the Azores with three points in the bag.

Dream start for hosts

The home team got off to a dream start when Wendel pounced on a mistake by Sporting centre-back Diomande and crossed beautifully for Vinícius Lopes to finish superbly on the run and give Santa Clara the lead after just five minutes.

Sporting responded well to the setback and spent the rest of the half applying heavy pressure on the Santa Clara defence. Luis Suárez, Pedro Gonçalves and Geny Catamo all peppered Gabriel Batista’s goals with shots, but to no avail.

Pote equaliser

Although the Lions were hogging possession and probing incessantly, it was proving difficult to create clear chances on a heavy pitch that had absorbed a lot of rain in the preceding hours.

Sporting’s pressure paid off in the 32nd minute when Catamo swung over a cross that Pote headed out of the reach of Batista and into the net.

The comeback was almost complete shortly afterwards when Luis Suárez’s cross-shot was brilliantly saved by a diving Batista, although the referee failed to spot the goalkeeper’s touch and awarded a goal kick. It would not be the first mistake of that nature by the officials.

One-way traffic

Sporting’s domination of the match only accentuated in the second half, with coach Rui Borges bolstering the attacking firepower by sending on Greek striker Fotis Ioannidis to play alongside Suárez at the break, taking off midfielder João Simões.

It was one-way traffic with Quenda, Suárez and Ioannidis coming close to scoring, but Santa Clara held firm.

With stoppage time approaching, Vasco Matos rolled the dice by freshening up his attack with the introduction of forwards Brenner Lucas and João Costa, replacing the hard-working and exhausted Vinícius and Serginho.

Brenner causes chaos

Brenner made an immediate impact. Another mistake by Diomande let in the speedy forward, but he pulled his shot wide. Moments later, another defensive blunder by the Lisbon outfit saw Brenner race clean through on goal, with Maxi Araújo bringing him down as he was about to pull the trigger. Red card for the Uruguayan and a free kick on the edge of the box.

As the match moved into stoppage time, Sydney Lima smashed the free kick over the bar.

Although down to ten men, Sporting were not done as an attacking force, but seemingly missed the chance to create a chance when Quenda shinned an attempted cross out of play, only for the officials to award a corner instead of a goal kick.

Hjulmand bullet header

Quenda himself took it, at last producing a good delivery with Hjulmand timing his jump to perfection and thumping an unstoppable header into the net. Santa Clara’s players harangued the referee incessantly, protesting that the corner should not have been awarded, with Adriano shown a red card for his troubles.

Moment later Lima launched himself recklessly into the body of substitute Matheus Reis and was shown a second yellow card to leave it ten against nine for the final seconds.

Sporting held on for the victory and draw level with leaders Porto on 28 points at the top of the table, albeit having played a game more. The Dragons will try and pull away again tomorrow when they play Famalicão away.

Santa Clara 1-2 Sporting highlights