Goyas beat Londrina 1:0 in the Brazilian Serie B on Monday night, the only goal coming in the nineteenth minute when Kadu found the net. The result keeps the hosts in thirteenth place with twenty-six points, while Londrina remain eighteenth with twenty-two points after twenty-six games.
It was not a game that promised much excitement at the start, and by then it was clear why. Goyas controlled the tempo with fifty-five per cent possession, while their visitors managed to create more chances but could not convert them. The hosts had one foot in the next round of confidence, even if that meant nothing in this competition.
Goyas registered five shots on target alongside five off target, their expected goals figure sitting at 1.34 against Londrina's 0.78. The visitors managed eight shots in total compared to ten for the hosts, yet the difference in quality showed in the final third where Goyas made more key passes and crossed more successfully.
The match became increasingly physical as the halves wore on, with six yellow cards on display. Luiz Felipe picked up the first booking before Wallace and Cadu went close together in the fifty-seventh and fifty-eighth minutes, and Djalma Silva, Guilherme Dantas and Gilberto all saw the referee's card later.
Substitutions came thick and fast after the break, with Rai Nascimento the first to be replaced on forty-six minutes. Lucas Marques, Rodrigo Soares, Ramon Menezes, Juninho, Pablo Dyego and Nino Paraiba all entered the contest in an effort to change the game, though the result held firm.
Goyas had not been in great form recently, drawing with Sport Recife and losing to America Mineiro, but this win ended their poor run. Londrina's away record looked even worse, having lost four of their last five matches including a heavy defeat to Novorizontino.