Sporting beat Casa Pia 3-1 to restore three-point buffer at table summit | OneFootball

Reigning Portuguese champions Sporting earned an important win in Rio Maior this afternoon, beating Casa Pia 3-1 thanks to the exact same recipe as last weekend’s victory over Estoril – a Gonçalo Inácio header and a Viktor Gyökeres brace.

A potentially difficult encounter was on the cards with Casa Pia unbeaten at home since August, but Sporting took an early lead when centre-back Inácio headed in a fine Geovany Quenda cross. Gyökeres was causing Casa Pia’s defenders all sorts of problems and the Swede doubled the visitors’ lead in the 34th minute when he latched onto Morten Hjulmand’s long pass, drove into the penalty area and beat Patrick Sequeira with a low cross-shot although the normally reliable Costa Rican goalkeeper should have kept it out.

The hosts got back into the game on the stroke of half time as Ricardo Esgaio turned a dangerous cross from the impressive Gaizka Larrazabal into his own net and Casa Pia applied pressure at the start of the second half, Rui Silva saving athletically from José Fonte.

Francisco Trincão earned a penalty when he was felled by a clumsy tackle by Duplexe Tchamba, which Gyökeres duly dispatched in emphatic fashion to end all doubts about the winner. Sporting remain three points ahead of Lisbon rivals Benfica having played one game more.