Rive beat Sport Brasil ES 2-0 on Saturday evening in the Capixaba B regular season. The result keeps them in third place on 17 points after nine games, while Sport Brasil ES remain in eighth on 9 points.
There were no goals to report from the first half, and here's the thing — the match didn't really open up until the second period. Rive took the lead around the 50th minute when their striker finished a quick counter-attack. Sport Brasil ES pushed forward to find an equaliser but lost their man in midfield and Rive added a second goal late on to see the game out.
By then the visitors had already been through a difficult spell. They'd lost 0-1 to Tupy three days earlier, bounced back with a 4-1 win over Pinheiros, then went down 0-2 at Estrela do Norte before this defeat. The away side had won five of their opening eight games but then lost four in a row to drop down the table.
Rive had been drawing more than winning recently — two 1-1 draws against Tupy and Estrela do Norte — before this result ended a barren spell. They'd actually beaten Sport Brasil ES 1-0 back in July, and this time around they were more clinical in the final third.
The win keeps Rive within three points of the top two, though the table goes out of the window in these games. Sport Brasil ES now have one foot in the relegation zone and will make life awkward for themselves if they don't turn things around quickly.