League: Folgore and La Fiorita cruise, Libertas stun Cailungo in the 93rd minute

Folgore roar back into action: a 5-1 win over Pennarossa sees them stay top of the table, while waiting to see how Tre Penne respond on Sunday in their delicate clash with Domagnano. At best, Tre Penne can only draw level with the giallorossoneri, not overtake them. Yet it hadn’t started so well for Ricci’s side: on 15 minutes (just after a superb save by Manzaroli on August), Belward cut in from the right, skipped past two opponents and curled a side-footed effort into the far corner for a stunning goal. Folgore take the blow well and hit back on 26 minutes, when Fabbri’s header turns into the perfect assist for the run of Pierri, who beats Manzaroli from close range. Augusto then goes for the far corner from distance, forcing Manzaroli into a difficult save. On the half-hour mark, Folgore complete the comeback as Adami Martins heads home from a Pancotti corner. Soon after, from another corner, there is a triple chance for the Falciano outfit: Pancotti is denied by Manzaroli, Augusto can’t quite time his jump and Pieri ends the move with a shot over the bar. On 42 minutes the duel between Augusto and Manzaroli resumes, and this time it’s won by Folgore’s front man, who gets just enough of a touch on brother Azael’s free-kick to wrong-foot the Pennarossa keeper and grab his fourth league goal, his third in as many games. There’s barely time to restart and Folgore make it 4-1: Fabbri runs at Marconi and serves up his second assist of the evening, this time finished off by Raschi, who arrives at the back post with perfect timing to effectively kill off the contest. The scoring, however, is not done: Pancotti adds his name to the list at the start of the second half after a neat one-two with Augusto. The return ball from the centre-forward is perfect for the run of the San Marino international, who gets to it before Manzaroli with a deft toe-poke. At this point the game truly has nothing more to say. On 71 minutes Pennarossa have the chance to pull one back from the spot after a handball by Adami Martins. Belward steps up in search of his brace but finds himself bewitched by De Angelis, who then also produces a brilliant stop on Maltoni’s follow-up attempt. Belward tries again late on, setting up a situation very similar to that of the opening goal: De Angelis flies across and is again decisive in preserving the 5-1 scoreline.

Pennarossa fall back to defeat after their pre-break victory, which had been Costantini’s first league win and their fourth overall this season. Cailungo have followed exactly the same path, but their evening is completely different to that of the Chiesanuova side. In fact, the red-and-greens led Libertas all the way up to the 79th minute, only to see all three points slip away as they conceded the 2-1 just moments from the final whistle. Libertas started the match in Acquaviva better: Osayande went within centimetres of the top corner with a powerful effort from outside the box. Cailungo replied with a fine move between Cecconi and Parisi which ended with the full-back’s goal, only to be ruled out for offside. The game remains very cagey until the 38th minute. At that point Bua wreaks havoc in the maroon defence but is denied at the crucial moment by a superb Foiera. No matter for Cailungo, because two forwards pounce on the loose ball and in the end Cecconi’s finish, while not powerful, is enough to make it 1-0. Libertas curse the woodwork in first-half stoppage time (Gregorio hits the bar from a corner) and come out of the break fired up, immediately going close to an equaliser through Melandri (excellent save by Filippo Tordella) and, in the same move, also through Socciarelli and Greco, neither of whom manages to find the right coordination for the shot. Greco, however, doesn’t dwell on it. Nor does he on 73 minutes, when he bursts past Depaoli for pace before striking Libertas’ second crossbar of the night. Five minutes later, from a short corner and after a Melandri shot is blocked by the defence, he pounces on the loose ball and lashes it angrily into the back of the net, finally lifting a weight off his and his team-mates’ shoulders. For Cailungo, who had been running on empty for some time, it’s a brutal blow. Melandri goes within centimetres of making it 2-1 in the 88th minute (shot over), while Greco turns the game on its head in the 3rd minute of added time: Melandri crosses from the left for Osayande, who cleverly opens the space for his team-mate, allowing him to beat Filippo Tordella from a prime position. The sting is incredible for Cailungo, all the more so considering that, right before the dramatic turnaround, Bua had two huge chances to restore their lead, both thwarted by a monumental Foiera.

And so Libertas move up to 8 points but still remain behind La Fiorita, who need more than a half but eventually manage to break down Murata’s resistance, thus securing a second win in the Andy Selva era. The gialloblù’s display is almost a monologue, starting as early as the 3rd minute when Mularoni fires over after a scramble in the six-yard box. Mazzotti goes even closer to the opener on 9 minutes from a corner: his header is just fractionally wide. The same fate befalls Errico’s effort, as he reacts in a flash to a lay-off from Bonetti and shoots from outside the area. La Fiorita’s pressure does not relent and the shots keep raining in: Olivieri saves from Zafferani, then Errico tries again from distance, dragging his left-footed diagonal just too much. Murata somehow hold firm and even try to sting through Hassler, who quickly makes room for himself to shoot from twenty metres, only to send it too centrally. Zafferani has a golden chance at the end of the half after a botched attempt by Murata to play out from the back, but he miscontrols when clean through and misses the opportunity to face Olivieri one-on-one. The feeling, though, doesn’t change: sooner or later La Fiorita will break the deadlock. And that “later” arrives five minutes into the second half. It doesn’t come from a passing move, but from a powerful burst by Bonetti, who wins the ball in his own half and carries it all the way to the opposite penalty area, holding off two Murata players trying to halt his run. It’s all in vain: the former Domagnano centre-forward shows all his physical strength and then also all his striker’s composure to beat Olivieri as he comes out, signing his first goal for La Fiorita. With the hardest part done, Selva’s men play with clearer minds, but they are no less intense: Bonetti turns in the box and fires over, then incredibly squanders the chance to make it 2-0 after Errico, with a sublime piece of skill, had put him clean through on Olivieri. Zafferani offers him another opportunity: the no. 33’s cross is delightful, as is Bonetti’s movement in the area, but his header lacks the necessary precision. Last season’s top scorer, however, doesn’t lose heart. Zafferani finds him on the edge of the box and he shrugs off two opponents with a single body feint before placing a left-footed shot into the corner for 2-0 and his personal brace. With the three points relatively safe, La Fiorita allow themselves a few flourishes. Zafferani, with a back-heel, picks out Errico’s run from deep, and the latter tries to place his shot under the bar, drawing a top-class save from Olivieri. Serges rehearses the 3-0 in the 77th minute (left-footed shot wide) before actually sealing the win in stoppage time, pouncing like a poacher on the ball after Olivieri’s save from Zafferani’s effort. As in Cailungo v Libertas, the ball is brought back to the centre-circle and the referee blows for full time almost immediately. Here, though, the contest had long since been decided. La Fiorita draw level, for the moment, with Tre Fiori (who play tomorrow). Cailungo remain on 3 points.

Below is the picture of Matchday 5 in the league, updated with the early kick-offs: