Chaves 0-1 Braga; Guimaraes 1-0 Tondela: Braga victory sees them go three points clear
Braga beat Chaves 1-0 away from home to see them go three points clear of the chasing pack - but have played a game more than their nearest rivals.
Braga now sit on ten points from a possible 12, their only dropped points coming in a clash with newly promoted Santa Clara, a match which they were leading 3-0 at half time but, somehow, managed to be pegged back in, resulting in them dropping two valuable points.
Today, however, there were no such defensive frailties, and Braga managed to see out a narrow 1-0 victory over lowly Chaves courtesy of a goal from centreback Pablo Santos.
The goal came as a result of a free-kick, initially delivered by Sequeira, which ended up at the feet of in-form Dyego Sousa, who had time to take a touch before smashing the ball towards goal.
His effort, however, was saved by Chaves keeper Ricardo Nunes, who pushed the ball back into a dangerous area. Palhinha jumped highest and managed to get his head on the ball, which somehow found its way to Santos who made no mistake in scoring from close range on the stroke of half time.
The goal that gave Braga their 1-0 win over Chaves today. Pablo Santos, 43'.pic.twitter.com/jVMFSSfMlL
— TugaScout (@TugaScoutPT) August 31, 2018
There were no further goals in what was a fairly even but uneventful fixture, and Braga managed to suffocate the opposition sufficiently to see them extend their lead at the top of the table and put the pressure on both Benfica and Sporting, who play Nacional and Feirense respectively this weekend.
Feirense, Sporting's upcoming opponents, are also the nearest challengers to Braga, level on points with both the Lisbon clubs, sitting on seven points in fourth place.
Elsewhere, Guimaraes were also in action today, beating Tondela - who were playing Claudio Ramos in goal, who was earlier today called up to international duty with Portugal for the upcoming fixtures with Italy and Croatia - at home in a tight fixture which finished 1-0. Guimaraes' goal came courtesy of midfielder Alhassan Wakaso, and sees them move up to sixth in the table.
