Futsal, one-sided top-of-the-table clash: Murata-Virtus 7-0Futsal, one-sided top-of-the-table clash: Murata-Virtus 7-0

Accompanied by great excitement, given what was at stake, the showpiece match of the tenth round of the Campionato Sammarinese di futsal ended in a clear-cut victory for Murata, who hit Virtus for seven while keeping a clean sheet. Spada’s Bianconeri went full throttle in the first half, allowing their opponents very little while creating plenty of chances – and the defending champions duly converted five of them before the interval. Moretti’s brace was interspersed with goals from captain Busignani and Morri, while shortly before the halfway mark Zanotti also had his moment of glory. The second half was more balanced, but it was still only Murata who had cause to celebrate: in the opening minutes of the restart De Angelis and Mattioli added their names to the scoresheet, playing their part in sending the title favourites back to the summit on their own.

Just behind Virtus, La Fiorita also move into view, having beaten Tre Penne and drawn level with them on 22 points – just one fewer than Acquaviva’s Neroverdi. It was a very even contest, with all the drama packed into the first half. Giuccioli broke the deadlock for Montegiardino, before Penserini’s side struck twice to turn the game around: Raschi’s own goal and Sabatino’s finish brought a brief moment of joy for Tre Penne. Two minutes later, however, Matteo Chezzi restored parity, leaving Pellegrini to apply the finishing touch for all three points. As you might guess, there were no further goals after the break. The next match in Acquaviva was one-way traffic: Cosmos put six past San Giovanni, although they still had to wait until the final quarter to wrap things up for good. On 16’ Gualtieri scored the only goal of the first half, with Bacciocchi doubling the lead early in the second period. He would go on to complete a hat-trick, shortly after Molinas’ quick-fire brace.

Tre Fiori came out on top in the “colour derby” with Faetano, played in Dogana. The club from Fiorentino beat their opponents and pulled level with them, leaving Fiorentino and San Giovanni at the foot of the table. They switched ends with the score at 2-2, after Tre Fiori had initially gone two goals up through Felici and Pelliccioni. Fortunati and an own goal by Podeschi brought everything back on level terms, so that after the restart Podeschi’s redemption sealed the win: his decisive brace gave Bugli’s side all three points. The second match in Dogana was electric, with Folgore edging Fiorentino 5-4 – despite three red cards shown to D’Amico’s men, with their coach absent last night. Taddei and Ercolani gave the Falciano club wings at the start, but by half-time the advantage had been halved thanks to Para. In the second half, Taddei and Ercolani again pushed Folgore out to a four-goal tally, only for the opponents to come back into it via own goals by Taddei and Bacciocchi. The latter was also sent off a few seconds later. Fiorentino failed to make their extra man count during two minutes of powerplay, and instead conceded Folgore’s fifth and decisive goal to Casali on 52’. It was a nail-biting finale as Bernardi pulled it back to 4-5 and two more Folgore players saw red (Mularoni and Daraji), but those dismissals did not prevent Falciano from clinching a narrow victory.

This evening the first postponed fixture is scheduled at the Acquaviva sports hall, where Pennarossa will take on Cailungo as favourites (22:00). Tomorrow, Juvenes-Dogana and Domagnano will bring the curtain down on the tenth matchday, facing off at the Multieventi from 22:00.

Below is the partial schedule for the 10th matchday of the league: