This Friday, Santa Clara welcomed Maritimo for matchday 30 of Liga NOS. At the Estadio Sao Miguel, the visitors were able to get a simple 1-0 victory over their opponent thanks to Xadas’ goal in the second half.

The first half started equal, with both teams trying to get the ball and create chances. As time went by, the hosts started to dominate the match. They brought a little danger to the visitors’ defense, but not honestly to their goalkeeper.

Maritimo then were able to scare the home club at the 37th minute when Rene Santos’ header obligated goalkeeper Marco Pereira to make an amazing save from close. Santa Clara answered with Fabio Cardoso’s header, this time obligating goalkeeper Amir Abedzadeh to make a good save. However, they went to the locker room goalless.

The second half was pretty much the same. Both sides were fighting for space and for the first goal, making both goalkeepers work a lot. The attacking systems were intense, and maybe the hosts were a little closer from scoring in the early minutes. They had three good chances in a row, stopping at the crossbar or goalkeeper Abedzadeh.

However, football is not always fair. At the 71st minute, after a lot of pressure from the hosts, Maritimo were able to break the deadlock in a play of luck. Xadas took a free-kick and sent the ball into the box. Even though many players went for it, no one really touched the ball, which ended up hitting the grass and dying into the back of the net. VAR still checked the play for a possible foul in Santa Clara’s defender, but the goal was confirmed anyway.

With the 1-0 victory, Maritimo reached 34 points and is in 12th place. Meanwhile, Santa Clara stopped at 38 points, in 9th place.