Futsal: Cosmos make it four in a row and climb to fifth

In the very last match before the Christmas break, Cosmos string together a fourth consecutive win and overtake Pennarossa to move into fifth place, after the latter’s defeat to Domagnano on Monday. No joy for Faetano, who are still searching for their lost winning form and must therefore resign themselves to spending Christmas in 12th place – for now still inside the play-off zone, but worryingly close to the area of the table everyone wants to avoid. Apart from a Rosa effort that flew over, the late kick-off at the Acquaviva gym opens with two fine saves from Rastelli: the first to deny Molinas and the second, from the continuation of the same move, to keep out Lorenzo Bacciocchi. The pivot tries again from a throw-in routine; his shot is blocked, freeing Cerquetti, whose left-footed effort is turned behind for a corner by Rastelli. Cosmos keep up the pressure. Lorenzo Bacciocchi rolls his marker, his cousin Giacomo, and shoots with the toe, missing the target by centimetres. Faetano try to bite back with a right-footed shot from outside the area by Luca Fortunati, supplied by Fantini. Delvecchio doesn’t just make the save, he immediately launches the ball towards the unguarded goal (with Rastelli having pushed up), scoring the opener for the gialloverdi. Faetano’s response is entrusted to the Fortunati twins: Simone plays a parallel pass to Luca, who instantly tries a diagonal effort, but Delvecchio is equal to it. At this stage, Cosmos allow Selva’s men to have their spell, waiting for the right moment to strike. And that chance comes on the counter. Francioni robs Fantini of the ball and then goes through one-on-one with Rastelli, beating him with a left-footed finish inside the post. Delvecchio then has to produce another top intervention on Fantini’s diagonal effort, before picking out the head of Lorenzo Bacciocchi, whose attempt is beaten away by Rastelli. The latter also gets his hands to a deflected effort from Francioni and above all to Cerquetti’s back-heel, tried from point-blank range in front of the yellow-and-blue goal.

Early in the second half Cosmos immediately give away a cheap ball and Guidi tries to profit, but Delvecchio is alert to the No.14’s left-footer. The Cosmos keeper instantly turns defence into attack with a precise long ball onto the head of Molinas, who in turn looks for Lorenzo Bacciocchi in the middle: the pivot’s turn and shot is powerful but narrowly off target. Shortly afterwards Bacciocchi has two more goes, on one occasion shooting wide from a good position and on the other drawing a fine save from Rastelli. Guidi is crucial in stopping Cerquetti after an excellent move involving Molinas; then Ceccaroli, picked out by Cervellini from a free-kick routine, leans back too much on his left-footed effort. It is, in short, a phase of the match in which Cosmos look far closer to 3-0 than Faetano do to halving the deficit. Franchino’s side carve out another big chance from a wonderfully worked move between Cerquetti and Molinas: the former returns the ball with a back-heel to the latter, who shakes off his marker with a veronica and then tries to lob Rastelli, but without success. Faetano threaten again through Simone Fortunati, who does well to turn away from Ceccaroli but is once more denied by Delvecchio. However, midway through the half, there is nothing the Cosmos keeper can do about Simone Fortunati’s tap-in after Moroni’s inch-perfect low drive had come back off the post. Any illusion of a comeback, however, lasts no longer than three minutes. Faetano make a mess of a corner and Molinas breaks at blistering speed, eventually choosing to square for the unmarked Lorenzo Bacciocchi, who makes no mistake. The No.22 then goes close to a brace from a corner routine: a powerful right-footed strike brings another save from Rastelli. Faetano make one last attempt through Luca Fortunati, who bursts away down the flank and then tries to catch Delvecchio out at the near post, finding only the side-netting. At the other end, Cerquetti is close to making it 4-1 from a free-kick (saved by Rastelli), while Molinas does make it four by converting a 10-metre free-kick. Game, set and match: Cosmos add fifth place in the table to the presents under the tree, while Faetano postpone their plans to climb the standings to the new year.

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