The Men travelled to Lousada for their last league game against Juventude with exactly the same squad that played the previous week, and perhaps it was this consistency that showed in their improved performance. Although they kept possession for large parts of the opening quarter of an hour, they only opened the scoring on 20 minutes when Vitor Rosa’s injection at a penalty corner got a clean stop from Tommy Hilt and left Philipp Wenzel to put his drag-flick on target. Ten minutes later Diogo Brito put them 2-0 up, when he spun in a crowded area and smashed the ball into the roof of the net.

Juventude came out after the break in a determined mood: within 10 minutes they pulled back a goal with a beautifully worked penalty corner that gave João Miguel Freitas in goal absolutely no chance. This galvanised the home team into a more attacking mood, and the back 4 of Temwa Smit, Andrew Baird, Joe Kodde and Michael Kodde had to be vigilant to keep out some promising moves.

The Casuals midfield of André Teixeira, Ruben Campos, Lorenzo Neuland and Hugo Jesus worked hard to regain the initiative, and 10 mins later Philipp drew the keeper and passed square for Lorenzo to make it 3-1. João Ralha then came close with an attempted tip-in, but it was Philipp who collected a pass just inside the circle, dragged the ball to his forehand and drove it low inside the right post for 4-1. With 5 minutes to go a Casuals shot hit a defender’s foot, and Joe slotted the penalty stroke safely to make the final score 5-1.

Tony Pringsheim