Frosinone fought neck and neck for 120 minutes with Serie B opponents Spezia on Saturday night’s third round Coppa Italia clash, before a 5-6 spot kick defeat to the Aquilotti in the Stadio Comunale Matusa.
Within the first 20 minutes it was the newly promoted Serie A side that swung first with a big chance, as Canarini captain Robert Gucher sent in a great free kick over the wall to force a stop from Leandro Chichizola.
Spezia found an answer just ten minutes later as Josip Brezovec opened up the right hand side of the park to cross perfectly into Andrea Catellani inside the box, but Nicola Leali showed his cat-like reflexes to deny the effort from close range.
The match grew ever more tense for the home side as Modibo Diakite picked up the first yellow card of the match just a minute after the save and Mirko Gori picked up another for Frosinone for his harsh challenge on Catellani just before half-time.
Only five minutes after the restart Spezia’s shot-stopper kept the goalkeeping battle going on as he gobbled up a well placed pass that was fed into the path of Samuele Longo just a few paces away from the goal.
Ultimately, both keepers proved to be invincible as Leali shone brightly moments later to force a goalless 120 minutes on the pitch.
Goalkeeping reached the climax during the resulting penalty shootout as both of the first kicks by either side failed to convert. First Chichizola parried away the strike of Gucher and Leali fought back with his own stop on Catellani.
A strike off the crossbar from Gialloazzurri substitute Massimiliano Carlini made matters worse for the home side, and Chichizola proved to be the true hero when he slapped away Aleandro Rosi’s shot to give Spezia a tremendous shootout victory.
Despite the loss, Frosinone supporters gave a generous salute to their side as Spezia celebrated their entry into the next round.
