Whoever said “patience is a virtue” was most certainly not Italian as yet another manager was sent packing this weekend.
The man in question this time being Spezia “Mister” Nenad Bjelica. Despite leading the Aquilotti to a sixth place finish in the league last season, the Croatian has paid the price for a succession of poor results which has seen the club drop all the way down to 15th in the table. The final straw coming on Saturday afternoon when his now former charges went down 1-0 away to Novara to condemn them to their seventh match without a win. A time span that also includes two 5-1 defeats.
In has come journeyman manager Mimo Di Carlo, who was last seen on the bench of Cesena last season in Serie A. A season in which you may remember the seashores were relegated with a whimper. So a bright future ahead for Spezia then.
Back to the matters on the pitch and as nearly always the opening match of the weekend took place on the Friday evening. This time it saw the collision of two clubs who would fancy themselves to be well in the shake up come seasons end, Pescara and Avellino at the Stadio Adriatico.
It proved to be quite a tussle between two evenly enough match sides. It was the Delfini who opened the scoring on 38 minutes, Ledian Memushaj slamming home from the penalty spot after a ridiculous handball just inside the box by 22-year-old defender Marco Chiosa.
Seven minutes into the second half Pescara made it two thanks to Valerio Verre. In truth however the main credit for the goal must go to Gianluca Caprari whose tenacious hassling of the Lupi defence ended with him winning the ball back through a perfectly timed sliding tackle before laying it off to Verre. In fairness to the Udinese loanee he still had plenty to do as he took on his man before giving a quick little step over and firing into the bottom right corner with aplomb.
Up to this point the hosts had been the better side and deserving of their lead but Avellino weren’t done yet and only ten minutes later were back in the game. Substitute Andrea Zito was the man to do the damage not long after coming on. A fine first touch which left him with space and time to pick his spot was key as he then fired low and hard past Vincenzo Firillo.
11 minutes from time however the Delfini restored their two goal advantage with a beautiful effort from Caprari. Standing almost dead centre of the goal, just outside the box the forward controlled a ball coming at him at about hip height before turning onto his right foot and bending the ball into a postage stamp size area in the top right corner.
Benjamin Mokulu did pull one back for the visitors in stoppage time to give Pescara a nervy last few moments but they held out to claim a big three points.
On Saturday afternoon Crotone moved back within a point of Cagliari at the top, Cagliari can restore their four-point advantage with a win over Ascoli tonight (Monday), after they demolished Ternana 3-0 at the Ezio Scida.
Afterwards a number of Ternana players returned home to find their cars defaced with graffiti, suggesting the Ultras are none too happy with happy with the teams displays so far this season. On the face of it 3-0 looks pretty bad but Crotone only scored their first goal four minutes past the hour mark and that only after Ternana had been reduced to nine men.
Alberto Masi and Biago Meccariello the two men to get the booth, the latter of whom ended up giving away a penalty before he departed only for that penalty to be stopped by Luca Mazzoni. The opening goal though would come soon after when Andrea Barberis knocked home from only a few yards out.
Ante Budimir then got the second on 75 minutes, controlling a ball over the top before squirming it past both the keeper and a nearby defender. The final nail in the coffin came one minute into added time. Alessio Sabbione the beneficiary of some unselfish play along with some awful defending to slide home.
On Sunday evening Bari moved level with Crotone on 28 points as they had a 1-0 win over Christian Pannuci’s Livorno at the San Nicola. Riccardo Mainero with the only goal of the game two minutes from time. A fine effort it turned out to be as well as he effortlessly controlled the ball in the box before turning his man with ease and curling the ball into the left hand corner.
One goal was all that was needed in the end but it could and should have been so much more for Bari as they passed up chance after chance over the course of the 90 minutes. Three points is the main thing and that’s all the Galletti will point to at the end of the day.
Meanwhile at the Romeo Menti Vicenza and Cesena played out a 1-1 draw that does little side either favours as they try to keep pace with the teams at the top. Mattia Caldara opened the scoring for the away side on 28 minutes. A free kick into the box was poorly attempted header clear before than been quickly played back across the goal to a waiting Caldara who made no mistake.
Four minutes before the break the Biancorossi drew level, Cristian Galano arriving at the back post to tap home from a yard out after the initial effort on goal turned into the perfect cross. That is the way it stayed till the end but not for want of trying however neither side in the end was able to break down the other for a second time.
Elsewhere around the league Perugia had a stonking 4-0 win at the Renato Curi against Brescia, Nicola Belmonte, Vittorio Parigini, Matteo Ardemagni and Alexis Zapata with the goals. Parigini’s rasper probably being the pick of the Grifone’s goals.
At the rain soaked Stadio Francioni Latina and Salernitana played out an intriguing 2-2 draw. The Leonialti had been two up in this one, only for two strikes in the final 20 minutes from Alfredo Donnarumma gave the Granata the share of the spoils.
Also around the league this weekend Pro Vercelli inflicted more misery upon Como as they won 2-0 at the Silvio Piola. While in Sicily Trapani beat Modena 2-1 and finally the battle of the two Virtuses Entella and Lanciano ended in a 1-1 draw.
Week 14 Highlights HERE.
Current Table HERE.
Week 14 Results:
Pescara 3-2 Avellino, Crotone 3-0 Ternana, Latina 2-2 Salernitana, Novara 1-0 Spezia, Perugia 4-0 Brescia, Pro Vercelli 2-0 Como, Trapani 2-1 Modena, Vicenza 1-1 Cesena, Virtus Entella 1-1 Virtus Lanciano, Bari 1-0 Livorno, Cagliari v Ascoli (Mon)
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