League: long-distance duel between Tre Penne and Cosmos, focus on La Fiorita-Libertas

After the midweek round, tomorrow the Campionato Sammarinese BKN301 resumes with Matchday 24. There are yet more clashes at the top of the table as the race to reclaim first place continues, a position that has changed hands several times in just a few days. At the end of Matchday 22 Cosmos were leading the pack but – with their midweek bye and Tre Penne’s last-gasp victory – the side from Serravalle were forced to cede top spot to the team from Città. This weekend both contenders will be involved in another set of delicate fixtures, as indeed are all teams at this stage of the season. In strict order of the standings, we start with Tre Penne, who lead the table on 49 points, two clear of Cosmos. Stefano Ceci’s men take to the pitch tomorrow in Montecchio against Fiorentino. As mentioned, the Biancazzurri are coming off a crucial victory over Virtus, decided in the 90th minute by Riccardo Tisselli (who will be suspended this weekend due to yellow-card accumulation), a win that also allowed them to remain unbeaten in 2023 – on top of the already cited first place in the table. Up against them is a Fiorentino side without a win in three matches and who in midweek had to bow to La Fiorita. The Rossoblu, however, remain very close to the play-off places despite not being in the best form. Nicola Berardi’s Cosmos will also play on Saturday: the Gialloverdi face a Domagnano side that slipped up in midweek, thus ending their run of three consecutive wins. Cosmos had a rest in the midweek round, but the former La Fiorita coach will have to manage his players with an eye on the rescheduled fixture – which will restart from 1-0, courtesy of Tommaso Guidi, with only the second half to be played – on Tuesday 14 March against Libertas, a match that will allow them to catch up with Tre Penne in terms of games played. Speaking of Floriano Sperindio’s team, tomorrow in Fiorentino we will see one of the headline fixtures of the round: Libertas versus La Fiorita. Both sides won last Wednesday and come into this clash with different targets. Manfredini’s team returned to victory after four matches without a win, a result that brought them closer to Cosmos (the Gialloblu are currently third, three points behind Tre Penne and one behind Berardi’s men). La Fiorita, however, unlike the aforementioned rivals, still have to serve their bye week (which will come on the final matchday). Libertas remain in sixth place with a healthy cushion over the chasing pack, but still some distance behind Virtus in the position above. The Granata, for their part, are still unbeaten in 2023 and have not lost since as far back as 25 November. Virtus will also be in action in Saturday’s early kick-offs. Luigi Bizzotto’s Neroverdi are coming off defeat in Wednesday’s top-of-the-table clash with Tre Penne – a foretaste of the BKN301 Coppa Titano final – and are eager to bounce back immediately in their game against Cailungo. The Rossoverdi are bottom of the group, having lost three in a row and without a win in nine matches. In Sunday’s late fixtures, Tre Fiori will look to react immediately after their surprising defeat at the hands of Murata. Andy Selva’s Gialloblu – without the suspended De Falco and Rizzo – take on a Folgore side who also slipped up in midweek in the Serravalle derby against Juvenes-Dogana. Despite that setback, the Gialloblu remain in fourth place, although the gap to the top is now five points. In addition, they will have to observe their bye week on Matchday 27. Lepri’s team, meanwhile, are still in the play-off positions (seventh place guarantees direct access to the quarter-finals, avoiding the preliminary round of the post-season), but must now start looking over their shoulders at the pursuers. Another key play-off battle pits San Giovanni against Juvenes-Dogana, with both sides coming off valuable midweek victories. Tognacci’s Rossoneri sit in tenth place – which would earn them a spot in the preliminary round – while Amati’s men could take advantage of Murata’s rest week to close in on eleventh place (the last spot that grants access to the post-season). Pennarossa, meanwhile, will not want to stop after back-to-back wins and will be chasing a third consecutive victory in their clash with Faetano. Bobo Gori’s Biancorossi are in eighth place but, with a win, could move closer to Folgore and Domagnano, who are both facing – on paper – tougher assignments. Turning to the match officials: this weekend will also see the presence of a refereeing team from Andorra (Antoine Chiaramonti will take charge of Libertas-La Fiorita, while Rui Maciel Queiros will referee Pennarossa-Faetano). At the same time, a San Marino delegation – made up of Emiliano Albani, Luca Zani, Cristiano Ernesto, Alfonso Gallo and Matteo Donadoni – will be in Andorra. The exchange also took place last week, when referees from Gibraltar were in San Marino, while the match officials travelling to the British overseas territory were Laurentiu Ilie, Giacomo Cenci, Gianmarco Ercolani, Leonardo Battista and Massimo Mattei. Finally, this weekend another San Marino delegation will instead be in action in Malta (Michele Beltrano, Mattia Andruccioli, Andrea Depaoli, Andrea Zaghini and Johnny Casanova), with Maltese officials set to visit San Marino on the weekend of 1-2 April. A reminder that you can follow every match this weekend with full commentary and live streaming on the Titani.tv platform, completely free of charge. Here is the Matchday 24 schedule of the Campionato Sammarinese BKN301:

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