Lega Pro 2013/14: Week Eight Review – If Horacio Nicolás Erpen Bariffo had scored that and not Scaglia, he would be playing for Barcelona

Date: 29th October 2013 at 2:30am
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After the previous week when the title challengers seemed to be marching and the relegation candidates to seemed to be accepting their fate, this weeks action saw some teams wanting to buck the trend.

Lecce grabbed their second win of the season in some style whilst Gubbio sealed a surprise win against Pisa, whilst elsewhere Sudtirol finally secured the win their football deserves. It was not all surprises at Pro Vercelli proved that San Marino are rubbish at club level as well as at International and Prato’s 2-0 win sees them maintain an unbeaten record.

The Stadio Silvio Piola saw Pro Vercelli, the old man of Italian Football, take on San Marino. Pro Vercelli had been in impressive form whilst San Marino certainly had not, it was then no surprise then when the home side took the lead. The source and the nature of the goal however, certainly was.

The ball was rolled across the box from a free kick to veteran defender Massimilano Scaglia and he returned it with considerable interest. It was a great strike worthy of a master craftsman and it seriously threatened to break the San Marino net.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgCyv6_YDKo[/youtube]

The second wasn’t long coming as Etorre Marchi sent his bullet header crashing into the net on 36 minutes, a moment he celebrated with the Curva in style. The second half soon saw the third goal as San Marino offered little resistance, a cross from the left was poked into his own net under no pressure, Juan Cruz providing the final indignity. The final goal came from more defensive frailties; the ball lost on the edge of the San Marino was soon tapped in after a good pass by the incredibly named Horacio Nicolás Erpen Bariffo. Pro Vercelli now move up to second and look like serious title contenders.

Elsewhere in Girone A Sudtirol beat Cremonese 3-1 in a game that finally saw them get rewards for their fine football whilst top team Virtus Entella beat bottom placed Pavia 2-1. Vicenza continued their frustrating campaign by beating Albinoleffe who are now in free fall whilst the surprise result of the day saw Venezia lose away to lowly Pro Patria.

Lecce were much fancied then utterly disappointing, generally disgraceful and written off, but now they seem to be coming back. Hovering around the bottom of Girone B they travelled to Ascoli in a fixture fitting of Serie B. Ascoli had picked up more points than Lecce and even though their form had been poor a win for the home side was still in the offing.

Things started to fall apart for Ascoli very early on however, when they conceded a penalty and went 0-1 down, this was soon added to by the away side as Ferreira Pinto volleyed home from a tight angle. Two turned to three as Mariano Bogliacino slotted home his second spot kick and three then went to four when promising forward Gianmarco Zigoni finished coolly.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHVcwzNPGlE[/youtube]

Ascoli fought back after half time and got a goal back and for a moment it looked like a comeback was on but all hopes of redemption were dashed when Zigoni netted his second, this time courtesy of an unfortunate deflection. Ascoli did get one more but the defeat leaves them in 13th, Lecce now move to 12th

The remainder of the Girone B games saw Gubbio secure a shock with against high flyers Pisa whilst Frosinone stay top despite only drawing against Grosseto. Perugia could be dark horses after beating Catanzaro and slowly continue to creep up the table whilst Barletta made sure they went back to their old ways and made sure they did not score, two goals in eight games a sorry return.

Once again Lega Pro showed off its ability to surprise with some incredible results and some incredible goals, non-more so that the strike from Massimilano Scaglia. Commentators everywhere were struggling as Horacio Nicolás Erpen Bariffo scored and a Miccoli-less Lecce stunned all before them. Lega Pro continues to delight, amuse and captivate the few thousand who watch it.

 

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