This was the best season ever for Tondela. It was the third time ‘Beirões’ were playing in Portuguese top division, the third in a row. But this was the first time Tondela played a relatively safe season, having been out of trouble quite a few weeks before the last rounds. The 11th place is then a great achievement for Pepa and his men.
The start of the season made it look like it was going to be yet again a hard, struggling season for Tondela. Only two victories in the first ten rounds was not the beginning of season Pepa would have dreamed. However, the following 8 rounds would be very pleasing for them. Tondela picked 13 points in just eight games, and it was around that time that Pepa made up his mind on who was going to be the team’s first option for the striker position: after having interchanged between Heliardo and Tomané, Pepa finally gave an extended run on the first team to the latter, and the Portuguese striker started to correspond with goals and good performances.
The best moment of the season was still to come, nonetheless. It happened between the 25th and the 32nd rounds, where Tondela picked only one defeat, having grabbed four draws (three of them on the road) and three wins, including the famous 3-2 victory at Estádio da Luz. The two final rounds were played when the team had already guaranteed their safe spot in the middle of the table.
The aforementioned Tomané was the main reference in the attack, having to play many times way separated from the rest of the team, doing a holding-pivotal work that was so important in Pepa’s direct attacking style. However, the most important men throughout the season was, without surprises the goalkeeper Cláudio Ramos. Having been the star of the team in the previous seasons as well, the talented keeper gave many points to his team thanks to great saves in many different matches. Cláudio Ramos was able to hold on to an impressive sum of 8 clean sheets during the season; a very impressive number for a modest team like Tondela. The centre-half Yordan Osorio played also an important role before leaving the club to join Portuguese giants Porto in January. From then and until the end, it was the veteran Ricardo Costa to assume the leadership of the defensive area, having done a great job in it.
