Nwoko's last-gasp goal foils Benfica

Former Hibernians forward Udo Nwoko had a dream start to his career with Leixoes, hitting a stoppage-time equaliser in a 1-1 draw with heavyweights Benfica in the Portuguese league opener late on Saturday.

Nwoko, who came on for Jorge Goncalves 19 minutes from time, hit the target with his second attempt after his initial shot had been blocked by a defender.

Benfica had forged ahead on the stroke of time, captain Petit heading home a corner from the right.

Nwoko is one of three African players who moved to Portugal this summer after spells in Maltese football.

Ex-Msida forward Ousseni Zongo recently signed a four-year contract with Uniao Leiria, who had also expressed an interest in Nwoko before the latter chose to join newly-promoted Leixoes.

Nigerian midfielder Uzeh Edafe, who last played for Valletta, is also lined up to join Uniao.

In England, Malta defender Luke Dimech played the full 90 minutes of Macclesfield's 3-3 draw with MK Dons while forward Michael Mifsud had a 13-minute outing as a substitute in Coventry's 1-1 home draw with Hull.

Having replaced Jay Tabb on 77 minutes, Mifsud threatened to repeat his scoring impact in the 4-1 defeat of Barnsley the previous week but he had two shots going wide in the last 10 minutes of the Championship match against Hull on Saturday.

On Friday, Malta striker Andrè Schembri played the whole match for Eintracht Braunschweig who went down to a 3-1 defeat to SV Babelsberg in the German Regionalliga Nord.