Lisbon, Portugal – Joao Tomas scored in the lone goal in the second half as Rio Ave edged Moreirense, 1-0, on Sunday for its third straight win in the Portuguese Liga.
Since opening the with a loss, Rio Ave has four wins and two draws in its last seven matches to accumulate 14 points on the season. Rio sits just six points off the summit in fourth place.
Moreirense lost for the fourth time in its last five matches and sits just one point off the foot of the table in 15th place.
Pedro Miguel Martins Santos and Albert Ze Meyong scored as Setubal snapped its three-match winless streak Sunday with a 2-1 victory over struggling Sporting Lisbon.
While Setubal moved to seventh in the table with its second win, Sporting fell to 13th place on just seven points from eight fixtures as its winless streak reached four matches.
Also Sunday, Beira-Mar beat Nacional, 4-0, Estoril downed Academica, 2-0, and Pacos Ferreira tied Olhanense, 0-0.
On Saturday, Oscar Cardozo scored twice and Benfica defeated Guimaraes despite a late red card to Andre Gomes, 3-0, for its fourth straight win and remained unbeaten and even on points with first-place FC Porto in the standings.
Ze Luis, Alan and Hugo Viana scored as Braga extended its undefeated streak to five games with a 3-1 victory over Gil Vicente on Saturday. Braga is in third, three off the pace of Benfica and Porto.
On Friday, Jackson Martinez and James Rodriguez each scored twice as FC Porto downed Maritimo, 5-0, to move into first place in the standings. Porto has won three straight and remained unbeaten this season.
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