Titano Cup: Virtus and La Fiorita win at the death, victories also for Tre Penne and Tre Fiori

After an almost perfect league campaign, Virtus make no mistake in their Coppa Titano BKN301 debut. The reigning champions, granted a bye in the round of 16, faced Domagnano in Montecchio last night in the first leg of the quarter-finals. The Neroverdi, however, had to work hard and wait until virtually the last second of the clash with the Giallorossi Wolves, who right up to the end hoped to put a stop to the positive run of the Acquaviva side. After a cagey opening half hour, it was Paolo Rossi’s men who broke the deadlock on the hour mark: Mattia Ceccaroli capitalises on a mistake in Virtus’ build-up play, wins the ball back on the halfway line and bursts through on Passaniti, beating him as he comes out to give Domagnano the lead. Bizzotto’s team take the blow but quickly pile forward in response. Moments later Tortori is the first to sound the charge, but Colonna reacts well and gathers his effort. One minute on and another chance for Virtus, with Buonocunto trying to profit from an unconvincing intervention from Colonna, but Baffoni throws himself in the way of the Neroverde playmaker’s shot and prevents the goal. Shortly afterwards, though, the Giallorosso defender is once again in the thick of it, this time to his side’s detriment: on Rinaldi’s long ball there is contact in the box between Baffoni and Tortori. Avoni points to the spot and Buonocunto converts for the equaliser on 65 minutes. The Virtus forcing does not let up and a couple of minutes later Buonocunto unleashes a fierce left-footed strike from the edge of the box that crashes off the crossbar. Time, however, is ticking away and the Neroverdi cannot find the decisive touch. Just before the ninetieth minute, Tortori misses the target from a great position – after another error from Colonna coming off his line – and so the match moves into stoppage time. With ten seconds remaining of the six added minutes, a lofted ball in the box is initially cleared by Domagnano, but not far enough; the ball is played back into the area where Rinaldi flicks it on for Benincasa, who brings it under control and fires precisely into the corner where Colonna cannot reach. Virtus celebrate, while Domagnano protest over an alleged foul in the area involving Nanni and the match winner (Avoni then sends off Giallorosso coach Paolo Rossi for dissent). For the referee the goal stands, and everything will now be decided in the return leg on 6 December. The final minutes also prove decisive for La Fiorita in their tie with Fiorentino. La Fiorita dominate the first half, but Simone Benedettini and his team-mates deal with the pressure without too many problems. At the start of the second half the San Marino goalkeeper of the Rossoblù produces a stunning stop to deny Olcese, and from the rebound Ambrosini fails to turn the ball in. La Fiorita make the running but Fiorentino stand firm. On 75 minutes Manfredini’s Gialloblu go close to taking the lead as Andrea Brighi’s acrobatic effort comes back off the bar. A goal seems to be in the air for La Fiorita and, in fact, in the 76th minute Ambrosini finds the net from a Marco Gasperoni assist, but the assistant’s flag is up for offside. In the 88th minute, though, having soaked up pressure, Fiorentino sensationally go in front: the Rossoblù clear their lines and the ball finds Aziz Niang on halfway; the Senegalese forward hits the turbo as he so often does, drives towards the area, skips past a couple of opponents and beats Zavoli as he comes out for 1-0. La Fiorita respond like a big team and soon restore parity: Davide Simoncini handles in the box and it’s a penalty. Olcese keeps his nerve and sends Benedettini the wrong way. Deep into stoppage time the comeback is complete: in the 96th minute Marco Gasperoni whips in a cross-shot and Armando Amati arrives to steer it into the far corner, sparking jubilation among the Gialloblu. If the closing stages were crucial for Virtus and La Fiorita, it was a very different story for Tre Penne, who struck three times in the opening half hour of their derby with Libertas. Ceci’s side come flying out of the blocks and are ahead inside two minutes: a ball in behind from Righini to Dormi, who, once in the box, curls a deadly diagonal beyond Elia Benedettini. After scoring, the Biancazzurri number ten turns provider, setting up captain Nicola Gai, who on 15 minutes rounds Benedettini and Grieco before slotting home the second. Libertas try to react and a quarter of an hour later Morelli goes close from close range, but Migani keeps him out with a superb reflex save. The third arrives on 34 minutes from the spot from Righini, who first wins the penalty himself after contact with Torsani and then converts to make it 3-0. At the start of the second half, however, Sperindio’s Granata pull one back through Zabre, after a neat exchange between Sapori and Morelli, who squares for the forward introduced at the break in place of Torsani. Tre Penne create further chances to extend their advantage, but Benedettini and his team-mates keep the Biancazzurri at bay. It is still enough for the Titano champions to take control of the tie and already have one foot in the semi-finals. A finely balanced tie remains wide open between Tre Fiori and Folgore, decided by the most classic of “ex-players’ goals”, scored by Eric Fedeli. There is little goalmouth action in Fiorentino, but just before the interval comes what proves to be the winner for De Falco’s Gialloblu: Ruocco breaks down the left and picks out Fedeli, who controls and shoots from the edge of the box, finding the bottom corner with a precise diagonal that leaves Lazzarini with no chance. Right at the end of the half Tre Fiori go agonisingly close to doubling their lead: Fedeli flicks on from a corner, the ball reaches Varrella at the far post, but from two yards out he fails to hit the target. For Folgore, one of the liveliest is Samuel Pancotti, but the San Marino player cannot find the decisive touch to level the scores. Ten minutes from time the match becomes even more complicated for Lasagni’s team when Sylla is shown a straight red card for a heavy challenge on Tomassoni. Tre Fiori are then able to manage the game through to full-time and bring home yet another positive result: the Gialloblu have not lost since their opening league match against Virtus on 16 September and are now on a ten-game unbeaten run. Here is the full picture from the first legs of the Coppa Titano BKN301 2023-24 quarter-finals, with the return fixtures scheduled for 6 December:

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