Championship: Virtus strengthen their lead, draw between Cosmos and Tre Fiori

With a ninth win of the season – and a sixth in a row – Virtus also defeat Tre Penne and tighten their grip on top spot in the Campionato Sammarinese. The clou fixture of Saturday’s early 12th-round games is the 18:00 kick-off between the Neroverdi and the Biancoazzurri, the last two clubs to have lifted the league title. The first chance to break the deadlock falls to Alessandro Golinucci who – on the same pitch and into the same goal – tries to emulate brother Enrico, on target earlier in the afternoon, but without success. Tre Penne respond with a corner-kick effort from Dormi that forces Passaniti into action. The Virtus goalkeeper is then one of the key figures in the opening goal on the half-hour: a long clearance from Passaniti splits the Biancoazzurri defence and finds Pecci, who brings it down, drives forward and, from a tight angle, beats Manzaroli with a right-footed strike. Tre Penne threaten again late in the half. A pinpoint cross from Nigretti finds Dormi, whose header is excellent, but Passaniti shows great reflexes to deny the equaliser. After the restart, Bizzotto’s side go looking for the knockout blow and start strongly. The Neroverdi pour forward and create at least three good chances through Tortori and Buonocunto. However, the number ten magician finally strikes in the 56th minute: he curls a right-footed free-kick directly on goal; Manzaroli gets a touch but can’t keep it out and it’s 2-0 to Virtus. The game seems locked up for the Acquaviva club, but Tre Penne refuse to give in and, on 79 minutes, find a lifeline: Gaiani swings in a cross, Passaniti misjudges the sortie and, at the far post, Dormi heads in to reopen the contest. That takes the match into stoppage time, set at two minutes by referee Ucini – a decision that infuriates the Biancoazzurri board and supporters. Two minutes are not enough for Tre Penne to complete the comeback, so Virtus claim the victory and extend their lead over the chasing pack. While waiting for La Fiorita, who play tomorrow, the Neroverdi move on to 29 points and consolidate first place. It is the first league defeat of the season for Tre Penne, who now find themselves 14 points off the summit. In the 15:00 kick-offs, the game that produced the most excitement was in Domagnano, between Cosmos and Tre Fiori. Before kick-off, Gialloblu coach Danilo Girolomoni received the award for November Coach of the Month MVP. The first clear chance goes to the Serravalle side when Errico releases Ben Kacem, who accelerates towards goal. One-on-one with Nardi, he opts for power with his left foot, but the former Santarcangelo goalkeeper makes a superb save. The deadlock is broken right at the end of the first half. Braschi drives forward and looks for a vertical pass towards Prandelli but fails to find him; D'Addario gets there first and tries a routine back-pass to Celato, only to find the Cosmos keeper off his line, and the ball rolls into the net for a remarkable own goal. The Gialloverdi react almost immediately with another right-footed effort from the ever-dangerous Ben Kacem, which misses by a whisker. After the break, Tre Fiori double their lead ten minutes in. Prandelli – who was also honoured before the match with the Player of the Month MVP award – starts the move by feeding Benedettini, who from the halfway line slides a perfect through ball for the run of Bernardi, who rounds Celato and slots home for 2-0. Cosmos refuse to go down without a fight and hit back straight away. Just a minute later, Serafini plays a vertical pass, Pastorelli gets a touch and sends the ever-quick Ben Kacem through, and this time he makes no mistake and gets his side back into it. Lepri’s men believe in the comeback and in the 78th minute Serafini forces the ball over the line in a goalmouth scramble following a free-kick, but the referee disallows it for offside. The equaliser, however, is only a matter of time: the ubiquitous Ben Kacem sows chaos in the Gialloblu backline and then lays it off for nearby team-mate Andrea Grandoni, who finishes left-footed to make it 2-2. With the comeback complete, Cosmos even go close to a winner on 85 minutes with a thunderous strike from distance by Pastorelli, but he finds a always-alert Nardi in his way. It ends with a point apiece and the gap between the two sides in the table (Cosmos on 24, Tre Fiori on 23) remains unchanged. San Giovanni and Murata also share the points, with both goals arriving in the first half. In Fiorentino the deadlock is broken in the 12th minute when Teixeira robs Della Valle in the centre-circle and drives forward; once he reaches around 25 metres out, he spots Starna off his line and opts for a delightful lob that drops in. San Giovanni react ten minutes later and restore parity when a vertical pass from Aprea picks out Nicola Sartini, who shoots from the edge of the box and beats Rafael Schneider – the defender once again pressed into service in goal due to the now well-known goalkeeping emergency at the Bianconeri. The balance remains in the second half, despite Murata going down to ten men on 90 minutes after a bad foul by Teixeira on Robba, which earns the Bianconero a straight red. In stoppage time the last chance falls to Augusto Garcia Rufer who, well found by a Corinti cross, meets it with a firm header, but Schneider holds on and the game finishes 1-1. Folgore, meanwhile, return to winning ways for the first time in almost a month, putting four past Faetano with two goals in each half. A quarter of an hour in, the first chance falls to the Falciano side: Ura does brilliantly down the flank and, once at the byline, cuts the ball back for Enrico Golinucci who, from the edge of the six-yard box, somehow fails to hit the target with his right-footed side-foot. The deadlock could also have been broken just after the half-hour when Ioli brings down Ura inside the penalty area. Referee Luci points to the spot. Pancotti steps up, goes with his left foot, but Forconesi guesses the right way and keeps it out. Shortly before the interval, however, Folgore do make the breakthrough: Ura receives a throw-in and, from the right-hand edge of the area, lays it off for Golinucci, who controls and this time makes no mistake, placing it precisely into the corner. Early in the second half Faetano respond in search of an equaliser, but Zonzini’s dink, well found by a long ball from Acquarelli, drifts just wide. Lasagni’s side then look to put the contest to bed and, shortly before the hour mark (55'), they find the second goal: a free-kick from a tight angle on the left – almost like a short corner – is taken by Pancotti, who drills it powerfully into the area; Miori rises to meet it with a header and makes it 2-0. Faetano’s reaction comes in the 75th minute with a fine long-range effort from Lisi that forces Guddo into a full-stretch save to turn it behind for a corner. Ricchiuti’s Gialloblu push until the end but cannot find the goal that would get them back into the match. Folgore take the win and climb further up the table, drawing level with Tre Fiori on 23 points. This is the partial picture after the 12th matchday of the 2024-25 Campionato Sammarinese, with all fixtures available live via streaming and on-demand on the Titani.TV platform.

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