Futsal, league: Virtus go down and Tre Fiori climb to third place

Tre Fiori make the most of the opportunities offered by the fixtures on Matchday 10. Virtus fall to Fiorentino and the yellow-and-blues are thus able to climb to third place, a handful of points clear of Juvenes-Dogana, Virtus and Domagnano (who had a bye) and with a decent margin over La Fiorita, beaten by one of the two joint leaders – Folgore – inspired by a rampant former player. Tre Fiori need less than 60" to strike against Libertas: Verri breaks the deadlock and then runs riot with three more personal goals. In between come the goals from team-mates Boschi and Cecchini, while the maroon side – who in the final stages see a 10-metre free-kick saved by Bizzocchi – only manage to pull one back for 2-1 through Tonini and are unable to stem the yellow-and-blue wave. It brings a second defeat in a row and drops them to third from bottom alongside Murata, who this evening will try to get out of troubled waters in the derby with Tre Penne. At the top, it is another winning Monday for joint leaders Fiorentino and Folgore, still level on maximum points. The defending champions were up against La Fiorita, who they overcame thanks to the particularly inspired form of a recent former player, Thomas Pellegrini, scorer of all three giallorossoneri goals. Max Spada’s pivot starts his show near the end of the first half; the 1-0 holds until the last 4' plus added time: in that spell La Fiorita manage to level through Stolfi, but then have to surrender to two more Pellegrini goals, allowing the Falciano outfit to continue their perfect run, while Montegiardino are unable to build on last round’s win and lose ground on the top four places, the positions that give direct access to the play-offs without going through the Preliminary Round. There is also a sudden halt for Virtus, who after four games unbeaten are forced to swallow a heavy 0-7. Fiorentino need 19' to open the scoring floodgates: Ercolani puts them ahead and repeats the trick after the break, following strikes from Rossini, Moretti and Ceccoli. The 6-0 is again from Moretti, who also bags a brace, while the exclamation mark on Michelotti’s side’s emphatic victory is applied by Zafferani in stoppage time. With this defeat Virtus are overtaken by Tre Fiori and caught by Juvenes-Dogana, who claim a second win on the bounce. Zonzini’s team do not have an easy task in getting past Pennarossa. Nonetheless, the Biancorossoazzurri make an excellent start, two goals to the good after 11' thanks to Giardi and Costantini. Pennarossa pull one back through Rosa early in the second half, only to slip to -2 again on 51', when Bacciocchi scores. The two-goal lead lasts only a heartbeat: within seconds Pennarossa reduce the arrears once more through Gasperoni and then, in added time, they even have the chance to level from a 10-metre free-kick, but the duel between Elia Cecchetti and Gianpaolo Brighi is won by the Juvenes-Dogana captain, who can thus continue his side’s march towards the more prestigious positions in the Single Group table. Pennarossa’s run ends after two wins in a row and this evening they could be overtaken by Tre Penne. However, Casadei’s Biancorossi remain level on points with Faetano, beaten by San Giovanni. The red-and-blacks – who had not won since Matchday 3 – pull away thanks to a Pierini brace split by a goal from Giglietti, before Faetano manage to pull one back through Massimo Moroni, without finding the way or the time to turn the game around. At the end, the yellow-and-blues lose Marco Moroni to a second yellow card, just as had happened to San Giovanni in the 36th minute, when Zonzini was sent off. San Giovanni move up to 7 points, joining Libertas and Murata (who still have to play this evening), while Cosmos leapfrog in one go all the sides on that same tally thanks to their win over Cailungo, still bottom of the group with zero points. Here too, a saved 10-metre free-kick proves decisive in the final outcome in added time. The spotlight is on Vicini, who denies Gamba both the equaliser and a personal brace. In fact, the number 16 had been co-architect of Cailungo’s attempted early breakaway in the opening minutes of the match: on 5' Cailungo were 2-0 up thanks to goals from Sabatino and, indeed, Gamba. Before the interval, though, Cosmos reorganise well enough to wipe out the deficit through strikes from Mauri and Cervellini. Iuliani then makes it 3-2, a scoreline that remains unchanged at the final whistle. This is the picture after Matchday 10 of the league, pending this evening’s late fixture:

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