Santa IriaGround: Campo Sacavenense Visits: 1 Date: 17th February 2019 Match: Santa Iria - Anadia 1-2 (Campeonato de Portugal, Série C) Attendance: 150 Belenenses have played at Estadio Restelo, in the Belem area of Lisbon, since 1956. At the end of last season a conflict between the president and the members lead to the professional team, playing in Primeira Liga, moving away from the club´s traditional home. A new club was formed but they had to start all over in Division 6, the lowest level in Portugal. The Primeira Liga team was renamed Belenenses SAD and moved to Estádio Nacional. Normally only the cup final is played at this ground and this season plenty of foreign groundhoppers have taken advantage of the situation and visited Estádio Nacional. Getting tickets for a home game of Belenenses SAD is somewhat easier compared to the cup final. My plan for the day was to go by train from Porto to Lisbon and then attend two games, Belenenses SAD v Marítimo at 15.00 and Sporting CP v Braga at 20.00. Due to a poor pitch at Estádio Nacional the game was moved to Estádio do Bonfim in Setubal though. Disappointing news for me but I looked at other options and found a game in Campeonato de Portugal (level 3) at 15.00 in central Lisbon. My day started early and at 08.45 I boarded a train bringing me to Lisbon. The journey took just over three hours and 30 minutes after arrival at Lisboa Oriente I was at my hotel. I had booked a nice a hotel a 5-minute walk from Estádio José Alvalade. That meant I could go to my room between the two matches and also avoid the metro queues after the evening game. At the hotel I had salmon fillet for lunch before going with the metro to Moscavide station, From there I made it by foot (20 min) to Campo Sacavenense. Campo Sacavenense is the home of SG Sacavenense, playing in Campeonato de Portugal, but this year newly promoted Santa Iria are playing here as well. Entrance was 7 Euros and I have to say Campo Sacavenense is a nice ground and a perfect home for a lower league team in Portugal. The pitch is artificial and there are two small stands on each side. The attendance was around 150 and around 25-30 of those were away fans. The home team played in their orange reserve kit which was a bit confusing for me. I only realized this when the home team scored at the end of the first half to make it 1-0 and fans with blue scarves celebrated. Anadia, second in the table, were by far the better team in the second half and as the energy of the Santa Iria players ran out Anadia could score two goals to win 2-1. The winning goal was scored in the last minute of normal time. Campo Sacavenense was a nice ground to visit a I can recommend a visit. 50 minutes after the final whistle I was back at my hotel where I had short rest before setting off for my second game of the day. Campo Sacavenense, entrance Ticket office North End East Stand East Stand South End West Stand Players and officials entering Kick-off View of play Anadia fans Feelings running high View of Campo Sacavenense View of play West Stand Half-time 1-2
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