Campeonato Paulista wrap: Penapolense win ill-tempered clash

Penapolense made it three wins in four in the Campeonato Paulista with a 2-0 victory over XV de Piracicaba, despite finishing with nine men.

Referee Marcelo Prieto Alfieri had his hands full on Wednesday – dishing out no less than 14 yellow cards and three reds in the clash at Estadio Municipal Tenente Carrico.

However, it was one of the rare few that didn’t have his name marked by a caution who made the first blunder of the match, with XV de Piracicaba defender Cesinha getting the final touch into his own net to open the scoring for the home side on nine minutes.

Penapolense defender Rodrigo Biro then lost his cool twice in the space of 20 minutes, earning the contest’s first dismissal six minutes prior to the interval.

Despite being a man down, Penapolense went on to double their lead via midfielder Guaru on 72 minutes.

The visitors’ numerical advantage then disappeared on 76 minutes, when one of their five already yellow-carded players Adilson Filho earned himself a second caution.

XV de Piracicaba would finish the match with eight of the 14 players who took to the field handed cards, however Penapolense won the red-card contest 2-1 when defender Luis Felipe was sent for an ‘early’ shower when dismissed on the stroke of full time to cap a brutal contest.

Penapolense sit in third spot on the table, behind joint-leaders Santos and Ponte Preta, who are level on 10 points through four matches.

And the two Paulista leaders had similar fortunes on Wednesday, as Santos defeated Ituano 1-0 while Ponte Preta snuck past Oeste by the same scoreline.

Corinthians made it back-to-back wins with a 2-1 home victory over Mogi Mirim, although they were helped vastly by a pair of red cards which saw the losers down to nine men for the final 25 minutes.

Linense striker Fausto struck a brace away at Sao Caetano to guide his side to a 2-0 win, while Paulista’s hosting of Mirassol ended 1-1.