Serie B 2014/15 – Week 40: Livorno surge to a playoff spot in contentious fashion

Date: 9th May 2015 at 6:21am
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Livorno downed Virtus Entella in controversial match on Friday night at the Stadio Armando Picchi by a 2-1 scoreline breathing life into the Amaranto’s playoff hopes. 

Andrea Mazzarani opened the scoring for the Biancolesti before Livorno’s Daniele Vantaggiato converted a heavily contested spot kick for his 13th of the season to level the match and Enej Jelenic sealed the deal with a stoppage time winner for the hosts.

Livorno were desperate for a win after five consecutive draws threatened to shut the side out of a playoff slot while Entella are seeking to avoid the drop.

Jelenic and Vantaggiato kick started the hosts with two venomous shots inside the first six minutes but were spurned by Entella’s Andrea Paroni. Backed into a corner, the Diavolo Neri responded with two quick opportunities of their own but were themselves denied by Livorno’s Luca Mazzoni. A see-saw first half ended scoreless when Livorno’s Giuseppe Gemiti rattled the crossbar minutes before the whistle.

Both squads gave the Picchi crowd good value for their money as the second half proved to be non-stop entertainment. Ferdinando Sforzini and Costa Ferreira nearly combined to score the breakthrough in the opening moments and were already beginning to celebrate when Gemiti miraculously tipped the ball out for a corner.

Livorno coach Christian Panucci inserted Andrey Galabinov and switched to a 4-4-2 which wound up changing the course of the match but not before falling behind when a rebound from a Mazzarani header fell kindly to the midfielder who had an easy tap to take a 1-0 lead for Virtus Entella.

Entella defender Vinicio Cesar was ruled to have fouled Vantaggio in the area and was given a yellow and later ejected for arguing the call. The initial call seemed dubious but there was no doubt Cesar earned an early trip to the showers based on his reaction. The delay and histrionics had no effect on Vantaggio who cooly finished to level the match.

The Amaranto kept trying to push their numerical advantage during the last quarter hour and just as it looked like Livorno would head to their sixth straight draw, Galabinov played Jelenic through on goal and a helpless Paroni could do nothing but fish the ball out of his net as Virtus Entella now face the prospects of a likely play-out lottery to maintain their Serie B position.

See the Serie B standings here.

 

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