Carpi continued their excellent form crushing Cittadella 5-2 and stretched their lead atop Serie B standings to three points while Bologna fell 2-1 in the final moments to Brescia.
The Biancorossi hosted Cittadella at the Stadio Cabassi on Saturday evening and extended the visitor’s misery behind a comprehensive offensive onslaught leaving Citta winless in their last 10 matches and securing first place for another week for the Emilia-Romagna club.
Coming off the heels of Carpi’s 5-0 drubbing of Pescara last week, coach Giuseppe Pilon had to juggle his lineup as the hosts prepared for the loss of four regular starters and were dealt another blow just before the match when leading scorer Jerry Mbakogu injured himself during warmups.
The visitors nicked the first opportunity when Citta’s Alessandro Sgrigna made a run which split the Carpi defense but his right-footed rocket was saved by a diving Roberto Mauratonio making his Carpi debut. Moments later Mauratonio was beaten on a thumping volley off a set piece but saved by the crossbar and the visitors bad fortune continued.
Carpi broke the deadlock inside of a half hour when Riccardo Giagliolo’s left-footed strike from 20 yards opened the floodgates and deflated the visitors who seemed to collapse after going down.
A wonderful headed goal by Simone Romagnoli followed moments later and although Citta’s Antonio Barreca was credited with a goal from an unfortunate Mauratonio clearance, Carpi reestablished their two goal advantage before half time after a bout of sustained pressure gave Roberto Inglese his first goal of the season.
The 23-year old Inglese made the most of his playing time as he scored again after the break and Kevin Lasagna also served up his first goal on a delicious left footed strike from just outside the area while Sgrigna scored a consolation penalty kick on a dubious foul in the area.
At the Stadio Dall’Ara Brescia escaped with a vital three points and ended a two game slide at the Rossoblu expense in front of new owner Joe Tacopina.
The Rossoblu drew first blew when Marcel Buchel’s shot was saved by Brescia’s Stefano Minelli just inside the half hour mark but the ball handed directly onto the path of Daniele Cacia who tapped in his fourth goal of the season.
Bologna’s veteran striker nearly scored a brace after the break when he worked his way between a pair of Brescia defenders to head a cross but the ball bounced off the post and the hosts were to rue the chance a short while later.
The ageless Andrea Caracciolo continued knocking in goals as he once again got his head to a cross and did not miss to level the match with less than 10 minutes to play.
The hero of the day, however, was 19-year old Leonardo Morosini who took advantage of a low cross which inexplicably evaded a pair of Bologna defenders in the match’s closing minutes to deny the Rossoblu a share of the points and waiting on Sunday’s results to determine if the Felsenei can remain in the Serie B playoff spots.
