Futsal: Tre Penne and Pennarossa share the spoils

Neither Tre Penne nor Pennarossa can celebrate a return to winning ways. Overall, though, the first late fixture of Matchday 27 will be more pleasing to Penserini’s side, if only for the way they salvaged a point – scoring just a few minutes from the buzzer. It was an entertaining match in Acquaviva, sparked by a Gamba effort against the post after a piece of magic from the Biancazzurri captain. Not that Pennarossa made a slow start. On the contrary, Novembrini’s men had gone close to taking a 1-0 lead earlier from a slightly mis-timed connection between Oddone and Verri: great play down the flank by No. 21 and a pass for his team-mate that was only just too long. Tre Penne again relied on Gamba’s hot right foot. It was his free-kick that drifted wide after clipping Verri’s shoulder. At the other end, Verri latched onto a pass through the middle from Toccaceli and quickly turned on Beinat: Cecchetti was there to deal with his left-footed effort that shaved the upright. Shortly afterwards Beinat carried the ball almost the length of the pitch, only to fluff his lines in front of goal when the hard work seemed done. Then Cola led a lightning counter that went via Beinat and then Littera: the former Murata man scuffed the finish and the chance went begging. The two fighters in the ring kept trading blows. Verri’s shot, deflected, turned into an assist for Angelini, who swivelled brilliantly but sent his effort just wide. The same No. 3 in red and white did not have to wait long to celebrate; he was practically struck by Verri’s powerful throw-in, but what matters is the outcome: the ball rolled inexorably past Cecchetti and Pennarossa went in front just seconds before added time was indicated. Tre Penne’s immediate reply came from the determination of Cola, who powered through a couple of challenges before shooting across goal, missing the target by a whisker. That was effectively the last action of the first half.

The second half began with a break from Gamba that ended with a razor-sharp right-footed strike, but off target. Then Timpani picked out the overlapping run of Oddone, who drove hard at the near post, missing by a fraction both the goal and Verri’s sliding attempt at the far stick. On 36 minutes Tre Penne lost Cola, who, in trying to recover a ball that had been overrun, lunged clumsily at Toccaceli: straight red card. With the extra man, Oddone missed the moment to pull the trigger on Toccaceli’s assist, before Verri fired into the side netting. Oddone tried to make amends just as Tre Penne were about to bring back the flying goalkeeper: a dangerous toe-poke, but well held by Cecchetti. Once numerical parity was restored, Tre Penne threw themselves into the task of restoring parity on the scoreboard as well. Beinat snapped into a challenge on Oddone and then looked for Littera, who, under pressure, failed to hit the target. Littera himself pressed Oddone on the flank and immediately set his sights on goal, only to be denied by Brighi. The equaliser was clearly coming. It arrived just past the midway point of the half: Gamba broke at great speed after a poorly-taken Pennarossa corner and, once he reached the by-line, cut the ball back perfectly for Beinat, who unleashed a thunderbolt under the crossbar. Gamba tried to copy him a few minutes later, but the captain’s powerful right-foot strike flew too high. Pennarossa shook themselves and, from a corner – this time well delivered – they reclaimed the lead. Timpani teed up a long-range right-footer from Stefanelli which, slightly deflected by Beinat, became unstoppable for Cecchetti. There were 7 minutes left on the clock and Pennarossa tried to kill off the contest through Timpani, whose shot from outside the area drifted wide. Tre Penne clung firmly onto the game and levelled at 57’. From distance, Bernardi set himself and unleashed a toe-poke that crashed against the post and then onto Brighi’s body, for an own goal as accidental as it was costly. At that point Tre Penne pushed to win it, but Gamba, having done brilliantly to free himself with a dribble, lacked the necessary composure once he found himself one-on-one with Brighi. There was, in any case, one final scare for Cecchetti as well, rescued by the post on Toccaceli’s angled left-footer from a tight angle. A fine match finished 2-2. Tre Penne surrender more ground to La Fiorita, while Pennarossa fail to keep pace with Folgore and thus officially slip to sixth place.

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