Friday 9th November
Grosseto 1 – 1 Spezia
Saturday 10th November
Ascoli 1 – 4 Livorno
Cesena 1 – 3 Brescia
Cittadella 2 – 2 Vicenza
Crotone 3 – 2 Empoli
Juve Stabia 2 – 1 Virtus Lanciano
Pro Vercelli 1 – 2 Modena
Sassuolo 2 – 0 Novara
Ternana 0 – 0 Verona
Varese 3 – 0 Padova
Monday 12th November
Bari – Reggina
It was a case of ‘as you were’ at the top of the Serie B table after the latest round of fixtures, with each of the top three emerging victorious over their respective opponents.
Sassuolo were able to shake off the effects of Monday night’s narrow defeat to title rivals Verona, picking up all three points against a Novara side whose season continues to go from bad to worse. The visitors started brightly but almost fell behind shortly before the break, with Simone Pesce having to clear a Paolo Bianco header off the line. The Neroverdi were gifted an opportunity to open the scoring with an hour played as Lorenzo Del Prete hauled down Andrea Catellani in the box, with Emanuele Terranova making no mistake from the spot. The points were made safe just three minutes later when Domenico Barardi curled a superb free kick into the top corner from the edge of the area, leaving Novara keeper Francesco Bardi with no chance.
It was a similar story for second place Verona, who began on the back foot before two second half goals saw off a spirited Ternana. The match turned on a debatable second half decision, with Pasquale Daniele Fazio shown a straight red card having been adjudged to have brought down Daniele Cacia in the area, with replays suggesting that the Ternana defender’s last ditch tackle was perfectly timed. Nevertheless, Cacia planted home the resulting penalty before seeing red himself following a second yellow card. The hosts pushed for an equaliser, but an injury time breakaway saw Raphael Martinho steer home through the legs of Stefano Ambrosi and secure another three points for the Gialloblu.
Elsewhere, Modena moved into fourth with a 2-1 away win over Pro Vercelli. Dejan Lazarevic headed the visitors in the 33rd minute, before adding a second with a fine run and finish late in the second half. Pietro Iemmello pulled one back in the third minute of injury time, but it was too late to have any bearing on the result.
Brescia made it back to back wins for the first time this season, with a 3-1 victory over Cesena also giving them their biggest win of the campaign so far. The home side dominated the opening exchanges and deservedly took the lead after 20 minutes through Andre Gregoire Defrel’s close range strike. However a fierce effort from Alessandro Budel drew Brescia level ten minutes before the break, with Daniele Corvia’s blistering spot kick edging them ahead in first half injury time. The visitors turned up the heat on their opponents in the second half and deservedly added a third through Vitor Saba’s sensational strike from the edge of the area with ten minutes remaining.
Juve Stabia moved back into the play off places meanwhile, with Riccardo Improta’s injury time goal giving them a 2-1 win over Virtus Lanciano. A terrific header from Manuel Turchi saw Virtus Lanciano take a first half lead completely against the run of play. However the Vespe’s incessant pressure finally paid off ten minutes from time when Tomas Danilevicius headed them level, and though Ivano Baldanzeddu was shown a straight red card soon after for a ridiculous punch to the back of Luigi Falcone, a defensive mistake allowed Riccardo Improta to fire in a last minute winner off the underside of the bar.
Bottom club Grosseto picked up a point at home to Spezia on Friday evening, but they were denied all three when Stefano Okaka’s late back-heel cancelled out Ferdinando Sforzini’s first half header. A late equaliser from Matteo Gentili meanwhile gave Vicenza a share of the spoils against high flying Cittadella. Dominique Malonga fired the visitors ahead on the stroke of half time, before a Niccolo Giannetti header and a Daniele Gasparetto strike turned the game on its head. Cittadella pushed for a third, but it was Gentili who grabbed the game’s final goal from close range as it finished all square.
Finally, a 3-0 rout of Padova saw Varese pick up their first win in nine games. A first half double from Neto Pereira set the side on course for a welcome three points, whilst Daniele Martinetti’s strike from six yards out put the result beyond doubt for a rampant Varese five minutes before half time.
Player of the Week: Neto Pereira (Varese)
Goal of the Week: Vitor Saba (Brescia)
Save of the Week: Rafael Andrade (Verona)
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