Cittadella battled from a two goal first half deficit at the Stadio Franco Ossola to draw 2-2 with Varese on Monday night while week eight of the Serie B schedule remains unfinished due to inclement weather postponing the Virtus Entella-Ternana match.
Arturo Lupoli netted a first half brace for the hosts while Citta’s Federico Gerardi scored his own brace in the closing stanza to earn a draw which doesn’t favor either side as they look to climb a crowded Serie B table.
The visitors came out with a bang, determined to turn around a string of three consecutive losses and nearly found the opener in the first five minutes when Alessio Benedetti ran onto an errant clearance which fell nicely into his path but the shot was saved off the line by Riccardo Fiamozzi.
Inside the 20 minute mark, Lupoli struck a volley which was blocked and came right back to the former Arsenal youth product, who collected himself and hit a left-footed shot which found the top corner to give Varese the lead.
The visitors bounced back with a few half chances but found themselves down by two goals when Neto Pereira artfully created a yard of space through traffic at the top of the area and his perfectly weighted through ball found Leonardo Capezzi who passed to a wide open Lupoli for an easy tap in.
The deficit was reduced almost immediately after the start of the second half on Filippo Scaglia’s header but Varese’s Elia Bastianoni dived to his right to keep out Scaglia’s effort.
Citta would not be denied nearly a quarter of an hour later when Gerardi buried an easy finish as he got in front of a pair of inattentive Leopardi defenders to drill a close range shot.
A mere 15 minutes from the final whistle and Gerardi was once again the beneficiary of a sleepwalking defense when Varese failed to defend a throw-in and allowed Gerardi to sneak onto the far post where he couldn’t miss a tap in goal to earn Citta a well deserved draw.
Meanwhile the match between Virtus Entella and Ternana has been postponed indefinitely due to flooding in Liguria. The match had already been postponed twice and with a packed Serie B calendar, the match may not be played for another few weeks.
