Futsal: La Fiorita and Fiorentino share a draw that suits neither side

It was certainly an electrifying affair, the second late fixture of Matchday 25 in the San Marino Futsal Championship between La Fiorita and Fiorentino. Disallowed goals, all the scoring crammed into the final ten minutes, and late drama with a missed 10-metre free-kick at the death. Despite a lively game full of chances, it ends in a draw that helps neither side: the Rossoblù, ahead until the 57th minute, fail to close in on Cosmos, while the Montegiardino club – who missed the chance to win it at the death – slip to seven points off second place, even though they still have a game in hand on the teams above them.

Bernardi has an early chance to put his side in front, but Fabbri stands firm. At the other end La Fiorita fail to hit the target on three consecutive occasions. Morri then does no better when Deluigi sends him through on goal. Later, both Matteo Chezzi and Morini – one-on-one with Amati – lack the finishing touch. La Fiorita have a real scare when Paoloni’s diagonal effort is diverted onto the crossbar by Fabbri. It is an entertaining contest, but the forwards seem to have left their shooting boots at home. At least until Gasperoni’s free-kick that pierces the yellow-and-blue goalkeeper: celebrations are cut short by the referees, as the kick was taken before the whistle. Before the interval La Fiorita pepper the goal through Morini, Simone and Matteo Chezzi, but Amati’s reflexes are equal to everything.

After the restart Fabbri has to work hard to deny Morri, who a little later is stopped after rounding the goalkeeper because of a previous handball in the build-up. La Fiorita respond with a thunderous strike from Matteo Chezzi that crashes against the outside of the post. The former Folgore man is clearly the main attacking outlet and almost breaks the deadlock with a free-kick deflected by Morri that ends up, purely by chance, in the hands of Amati. The yellow-and-blue pivot is just as decisive in his own half, taking Fabbri’s place to clear Bernardi’s diagonal effort that was heading in. At the other end, Giuccioli and Simone Chezzi both fail to take advantage of good openings, and on a free-kick taken by his namesake Matteo, Simone then finds an excellent Amati blocking his path to goal. We head into the closing stages with Fiorentino taking the lead through the Paoloni-Bernardi combination: Paoloni gets in front of Matteo Chezzi and shoots, and the pivot pounces on Fabbri’s save to turn in the opener for 1-0 on 50 minutes. La Fiorita then launch an all-out assault, sending on Andreani between the posts to employ the flying goalkeeper. The choice pays off in their own half as well, as the keeper first prevents Morri from doubling the lead and then provides the assist for Morini’s equaliser three minutes from the 60th. Fiorentino avoid a bitter defeat thanks to further interventions from Amati and Geri, but then break into a cold sweat when a 10-metre free-kick is awarded for Felici’s foul on Andreani. However, Matteo Chezzi sends the dead-ball effort wide just fractions of a second before the final whistle: the last match of the round thus produces the only draw of the entire slate.