THE Portuguese Club of Jersey lost their Coca-Cola Combination Division I status last night following a 2-1 defeat at Springfield by title-chasing Trinity.

The Portuguese certainly went down fighting as they pressed hard in the closing stages when they deservedly pulled a goal back 15 minutes from the end.

Today they will reflect on what might have been had midfielder Michael Agrela not been sent off in the 20th minute after handling Stephen McCarter’s shot on a goal-line to deny Trinity a goal.

Portuguese goalkeeper Marcio Caldeira brilliantly saved Darren Swanson’s spot kick, diving low to his right, but McCarter pounced on to the loose ball to hit it across goal and Barry Beatson blasted Trinity ahead from close range.

Three minutes after the break Trinity doubled their advantage with a scorching strike from the impressive McCarter. Put through on Portuguese’s left, McCarter raced into the area before unleashing a rising cross shot into the top corner from 16 yards.

Substitute Jose-Manuel Vieira then drove a shot narrowly wide for Portuguese while Ray Grant missed a great opportunity on a far post for Trinity following a well-weighted free kick by Swanson.

Portuguese pulled a goal back when Rutter guided home a curling shot from 20 yards following a quickly-taken free kick by Vieira.

It was game on again and although Trinity continued to have the better of the possession their final ball into their strikers, just like Portuguese, was too often poor.

Caldeira plucked substitute John Beatson’s cross-shot out from under his crossbar late on while Vieira had a chance to equalise only to lash the ball over the crossbar.

Portuguese’s fate has now been sealed; they are relegated after just one season in the top flight.

After a good start to the season they failed to capitalise further by collecting just four points from a possible 30 since defeating Jersey Wanderers at the end of October.

Portuguese spokesman Sergio Carolo said: ‘We will look to get back to the top flight as quickly as possible; I hope the management and the players stick together and that we can have a team the Portuguese community can be proud of.

‘We didn’t lose it last night; one win in eight games tells its own story that we have not been good enough this season.

‘We had a six-week break without a game between November and January and I don’t know why but we never seemed to recover from that although we did put in a good performance last night.’

Trinity’s win pushed them to within three points of leaders St Paul’s with both clubs having two matches to play.

Portuguese Club: Marcio Caldeira; Ricardo Perreira, Artur Calaca, Antonio Antunes, Robbie Fernandes; Carlos Carolo, Michael Agrela, Richard Russell, Joao Antunes; John Rutter, Michael Teixeira. Subs used: Jose-Manuel Vieira, Joao Mendonca.

Trinity: James Keating; James Hayward, Dave Lloyd, Ray Grant, Richard Parker; Mark McClurg, Darren Swanson, Stephen McCarter, Lee Jones; Barry Beatson, Dave Le Roux. Subs used: Lloyd Dean, Marc Reid, John Beatson.

Officials: Chris Gouyette, Peter Smith, Neil Giannoni.