Futebol

Portimanense vs Penafiel, Estadio Do Portimanense, Portimao. Unfortunately as there was a sign outside forbidding long lenses I kept my 150-420mm zoom firmly in my bag, not wanting to attract the attention of the armed police. The guy second from the left (Luis Carlos, No. 21) is the guy who gave us the tickets yesterday afternoon. The tickets turned out to be Banco De Sul (South terrace?) in what would be known as 'The Singing Corner'back home at St. James' Park. The supporters club (Blanconero 09, black & white 09?) made us and a stag party from Derby (who also play in black & white, do you see a theme?) very welcome and at home. The English chants from the Derby crowd were met with very puzzled looks, not all of the Portuguese seemed to know what it was that the referee was on the many occasions he was accused of it, though they were very familiar with the waving of pretend cards and what it signified. The game ended 3-2 to the home team, with an injury time winner, after having led twice but twice being pegged back. The game itself was well fought though not of the highest quality, but then it is Portugal's second division and the stadium probably holds a few thousand at best (about the size of Meadowbank in Edinburgh). There were hints of 20 men chasing a ball around the park at times but it was good to see that despite all that there was no lack of passion in the young supporters club and that we might not have known the words but could pick up on everything, I even joined in with the song whose words I could understand - 'Lu lu lu lu lo, lu lu lo, lu lu lo' and when I was asked which team I supported by an old guy at the beer stand he smiled and said 'Ah, Alan Shearer' when I said Newcastle United.

All of this fun was had after we had spent the afternoon in Alexis Bar next to the hotel watching the spectacle that was NUFC vs LFC. I wasn't expecting much but to go ahead quite early on was a bonus and I assumed that they would come out after the break all fired up and ready to go. As it turned out it semed more like they all went down the bookies and bet on us to win. We should have taken more goals than we did from the game, considering we are a good 15 behind Chelsea and Arsenal on goal difference despite being about the same points and especially as Pepe Reina got himself rather stupidly sent off for headbutting James Perch after they had used all of their substitutions. Perch was at fault and took his yellow card for an initial infringement (I think it was an infringement anyway and not for the slight dive when the headbutt took place) but an international player like Reina really should have known better, and they were fortunate we didn't punish them more.

So 6 points from a possible 6 for the day and much excitement and beer meant that the only thing left to do was go home and eat the quarter suckling pig I bought on my return to the food festival this morning and sup a bottle of wine back in Alexis Bar (with the internet to catch up on of course) before heading back for an early night with the sounds of drunken Spanish students echoing around the corridors.