Frosinone smashed ten men Livorno 5-1 at the Stadio Matusa on Friday night in Serie B in what was second place against third place.
Goals from Leonardo Blanchard, Federico Dionisi, Luca Paganini, Davis Curiale and a penalty from Daniel Ciofani turned the game on its head after Luca Siligardi had put the Amaranto in front.
The first chance of the game fell to the home team who had started brighter as the ball was dinked to the back post where Paganini’s diving header went fractionally wide of the post.
Then, against the run of play Livorno took the lead. Frosinone left themselves vulnerable at the back as Daniele Vantaggiato laid the ball to Siligardi who had the freedom of the half to beat the last defender and slot under the goalkeeper.
Almost immediately, the Gialloazzurri equalised as a corner was played in and flicked to the back post where Blanchard reacted first to poke home.
The away side could have taken the lead on the half-hour mark as Aniello Cutolo rounded the keeper but his effort was then diverted wide by one of the covering defenders on the line.
In the 38th minute, Frosinone turned the game around. Ciofani seemed to have fouled Alessandro Bernardini as he tried to shield the ball for a goal kick but the foul was not given, and the striker squared for Dionisi to fire into the net to give his side a lead going into half-time.
In the 52nd minute, the Amaranto were reduced to ten men as Alessandro Lambrughi received his second yellow card for a foul.
Minutes later Frosinone could have made it 3-1 as Ciofani hit the bar from close range, but it didn’t take them much longer to increase their lead.
The home side were awarded a penalty just after the hour mark when Bernardini hacked down Danilo Soddimo and Ciofani sent the keeper the wrong way to put the game out of sight for Livorno.
In the 70th minute Soddimo tried his luck from outside the box and his effort was deflected but Luca Mazzoni scrambled across his line to tip the ball wide of the post.
With the home team in full control, it was only a matter of time before they added to the scoring and they duly did in the 87th minute through Paganini’s header.
They got another in the last minute of injury time through Curiale, who although slipped still managed to find the bottom corner with his effort from inside the box.
The game ended there, with the Gialloazzurri stamping their mark on Livorno and joining Carpi at the top of the table with 28 points, Livorno stay in third.
