Fourth jump in D for Sambiase. Vigor Lamezia towards the regional play-off

Lamezia Terme – Fourth historic promotion in the Interregional – Serie D for Sambiase. In reality it is as if it were the third considering that the one won at the end of the 2021 Eccellenza mini tournament did not then lead, as is known, to the dispute of the highest national amateur championship with the same name and club colours. The first leap outside the regional football boundaries materialized thanks to the second place obtained in the 1983-84 Calabrian Promotion tournament (Eccellenza had not yet been established), with the former Catanzaro footballer Adriano Banelli in the double role of coach – player. In 2008-09 came first place in Eccellenza with coach Alberto Aita who, ironically, with his PraiaTortora this season was the only opponent capable of beating Crucitti and his teammates. So the recent history with the two triumphs, in the last four years, led first by Danilo Fanello, and now by Claudio Morelli. Both after the promotion in the mid-eighties and in 2009, the Giallorossi team managed to resist, in both cases, for about five years in the new, and more prestigious, category. To be precise, six and four consecutive seasons respectively.

After many placings and play-offs, both won (only in Promotion) and lost, on Sunday, two seasons after what, at the helm of Promosport, was his first directly won Promotion tournament, Claudio Morelli was finally able also celebrate his first final place in an Excellence championship. A joy that also repaid him for the four Italian Cup finals, the last one in the current season, which he lost out of as many played. A tournament in which, once established, Sambiase always looked down on everyone. At the end of the fourth day the Giallorossi conquered the top jointly with three other teams. For two weeks they were therefore first together with their green-and-white cousins. At the end of round number seven, they dropped to third place, -2 from Soriano and -1 from Vigor. Just the passing of a Sunday and Crucitti and his companions regained the summit, in condominium with Soriano, never to leave it again. At the end of the tenth day they said goodbye to the company of Vibo, gradually increasing the margin of advantage over the closest pursuer, which, from the first return, has steadily become Vigor Lamezia. The latter, after having managed to bring itself, remaining there for several weeks, to “only” six points behind, at the end of the last day it definitively gave up the duel, all Lametian, slipping to -9.

A very difficult season to replicate, regardless of the categories, considering all the additional records set so far by president Folino’s boys. The win against Paolana in front of around 1000 spectators was the eleventh consecutive match closed without a goal. The unbeaten record of the Giallorossi goal has thus risen to 1000 minutes. Therefore, the previous record of Excellence held by Locri 2017-18 has now been surpassed by 99′. The same goalkeeper Alessio Giuliani, excellently replaced against Soriano by the second Martino, thanks to the zero goals collected in his bag yesterday afternoon, personally surpassed the 901′ unbeaten streak in Excellence which was held by Galluzzo, extreme defender of that Locri edition 2017-18. Giuliani, in fact, has now not conceded a goal for 910 minutes. The one achieved at the “Renda” against the Tyrrhenian team from Cosenza was the fourteenth victory out of as many home championship matches, even eighteen out of eighteen if we also include the four home cup victories. Never, in its century-old football history, had Sambiase been capable of doing so much good within friendly walls.

Fourth 3-0 in this championship after those achieved, again on the synthetic “Gianni Renda”, against Gioiosa, Bocale and Morrone. The one inflicted on the Paolani was also worth the twenty-first useful result in a row. Almost homogeneous performance between the first round, which brought 36 points, and the second round, in which, with two days to go, 31 have already been collected. The one based on Strumbo, Colombatti and Valentino Frasson remains, together with that of Real Acerrana (group A of Eccellenza Campania), the defense least beaten by the top national series in the various regional Eccellenza tournaments. In both cases, just eight goals conceded in twenty-eight games. Acerrana, in turn leaders but not yet mathematically promoted, boasts, however, one point in the standings, and ten more goals scored, but, unlike the Giallorossi, they have lost two matches.

Defensively speaking, Strumbo and his teammates have literally outdone themselves in this second round, having conceded just one goal, moreover a penalty, in thirteen matches! Perfect defensive synchronisms and more than grim markings: the attackers themselves, and not only Paolana’s, know something, who, on Sunday, in the few times in which they managed to arrive near or inside the local area, had a fraction of a second available before being literally attacked, on a technical and competitive level, by their opponents. On the only occasion in which, due to a twist in front of goal by the insuperable Strumbo, the Giallorossi goal seemed destined to swell, the pinch of luck that usually accompanies great years materialized, already at 3-0. , and which caused the ball to go out of the post.

Despite the three goals scored in the last 90′ by the Sambiasini, Vigor Lamezia’s attack remains the most prolific attack of the tournament, albeit now with only one goal to spare. The Biancoverdi, on the other hand, were overtaken by their cousins ​​in terms of points won away from home: 25 against, by virtue of the success at the “Lorenzon”, the 24 of Foderaro and his associates, again in fourteen external matches. Vigor remains leader in terms of number of away victories (seven against the six of Sambiase and Rende).

In short, even the current top regional championship is confirming the unwritten law of football, according to which whoever finishes first finishes with the best defence, and not attack, in the end. The masterful free kick that broke the deadlock in the match against the eleven of Lametini Angotti and Tutino earned Antonio Crucitti his tenth league goal. An extremely positive season for the newly thirty-seven-year-old playmaker (he just celebrated his birthday yesterday), also considering his five goals in the cup. Furthermore, only one of these fifteen goals in total scored by the team’s main scorer was scored from a penalty. Against Paolana and Morrone the former Cittanova scored in both the first leg and the second leg. Fifth center (plus the three in the Italian Cup) for an Abayian who confirmed himself as infallible from the spot. First personal joy in the Giallorossi for Espinar.

Let’s move on to Vigor, where on Sunday they suffered a heavy comeback defeat. The final 2-1, miraculously remedied in the last 10′, interrupted a positive streak, which paradoxically began and ended again against Rende, which had now lasted for fifteen days. In the long run, the emergency situation in defense (second consecutive match played without the three experienced central defenders, Scalon, De Nisi and Mascaro) and the various scoring opportunities wasted at 0-1, cost the Fanello boys dearly. A heavy setback not so much because it gave the definitive green light to the Sambian party, given that, otherwise, it would have only been postponed for a week, but because it significantly reduced the margin of advantage over third place. Soriano, victorious in a comeback against a Bocale team that now seems to have definitively thrown in the towel, has in fact shortened its delay from Lametini from nine to six points, with the consequence that, given the rather manageable last two commitments that await the rossoblù from Vibo , it is now very difficult for Foderaro and his teammates to avoid competing in the regional play-off final against the winner of the almost certain Soriano-Cittanova semi-final. Brancaleone, Vigor’s next opponent, by surprisingly losing at home against Morrone, has in fact literally thrown away the chances of continuing to fight for fourth place. Cittanova, four points away, it is true that on Sunday they will not have an easy life in Paola, but then they will close by hosting an already virtually relegated StiloMonasterace (next Sunday it should also become mathematically so).

Only five points have been collected by Vigor in the last four days. At the “Lorenzon” the fourth defeat of the season materialized, the first suffered in a comeback after the exact opposite had instead been done in Isola, on the debut, and at home against Palmese and Scalea. Curiously, in two of these four defeats the green and whites had to do without the expert Alessandro Bernardi, in both cases because he was disqualified. Simply a coincidence? The goal from a free kick with which Vincenzo Curcio had given his team the lead proved to be in vain. Third goal, after the two from eleven meters, in the championship for the expert midfielder who, again from a penalty, had also scored against VE Rende in the Italian Cup.

Ferdinando Gaetano