Sporting snatch victory against Belenenses, Benfica win

LISBON (Reuters) - Sporting's Willam Carvalho converted a stoppage-time penalty to give the Portuguese league leaders a 1-0 home win over hapless Belenenses who defended gallantly for 90 minutes on Monday. Sporting stay five points clear of Porto, who won 1-0 at Tondela on Saturday. Champions Benfica got two early goals to win 2-0 at Braga and move above their opponents into third. Belenenses suffered a cruel late blow as they appeared to be on the verge of taking a deserved point from Sporting until the ball hit defender Tonel's raised hand as he went up for a header with Islam Slimani and the referee pointed to the spot. It was not clear whether the handball was intentional or not, but Carvalho made no mistake as he fired home the penalty. "We reached the shore and died on the beach," said Belenenses defender Goncalo Brandao. The highlight of the game at the Alvalade was an individual effort by Sporting forward Bryan Ruiz in the first half. The Costa Rican collected the ball in midfield, ghosted past a defender, jinked his way into the area, slipped through two more defenders and saw his shot tipped away by Hugo Ventura. Benfica's Pizzi scored in the third minute after Kostas Mitroglou opened up Braga's defence with a clever backheel and defender Lisandro Lopez turned in the second after 11 minutes. (Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Ken Ferris)