Faifeense and Vianense drew 0:0 in the opening round of League 3 on Sunday, a result that kept both sides in the top half but left questions about finishing. The match ended without a goal despite a reasonable number of attempts from both sides, and neither side could find the breakthrough they needed.
To be fair, the first half had its moments, though not the kind that show up on a scoresheet. J. Batista picked up a yellow card after eight minutes, and Laercio followed the same path twenty-eight minutes in, suggesting the game was getting physical rather than fluid. By then, you could sense both managers were feeling each other out.
The second half brought a flurry of changes, four substitutions in quick succession between the sixty-third and seventy-eighth minutes. D. Carvalho, M. Conceicao, Sequeira and D. Soares Mendonca all came off the bench, and you get the feeling the coaches were looking for something different after an hour of stalemate.
The numbers tell a story of fairly even possession — 49 per cent to 48 per cent — but the attacking output tells a different tale. Faifeense registered four shots on target with five off, while Vianense managed only one on target from four attempts. They had the more attacks overall, 106 to 95, but shots don't mean much when they don't find the net.
Both teams remain in the upper half of the table after four games, with Faifeense on eight points in third and Vianense five points back in fifth. The clean-sheet run for whichever side had it came to an end here, and now the focus shifts to turning these draws into victories before the gap widens.