The miracle did not occur and Fano returned to Sora empty-handed. And when there are only two days to go until the end of the championship, Alma is already with one foot in the grave. That is, relegated to Excellence. Also because, in the meantime, with the results of the opponents on Sunday the situation has even worsened. Let’s start from the bottom of the ranking. Vastogirardi, who were second to last in the rankings the day before yesterday, achieved the feat by conquering the “Bianchelli” of Senigallia against an unrecognizable Vigor. Thanks to the three points and the concomitant defeat of Fano, the Molise people have reached 29 points against the Granata. If the two teams were to remain equal on points at the end of the tournament, according to the playout regulations, a play-off would have to be held to define who goes to the playouts and who gets relegated immediately. In this case, salvation would require two play-off matches. Like saying a lottery. This, however, without taking into account the fact that in the desperate fight to avoid the second direct relegation (Matese, last at 25 would have no chance) Tivoli could return, stuck at 31 (because defeated at home by Avezzano) and perhaps even United Riccione, defeated in L’Aquila and therefore anchored at 34 points.
However, everything could be nullified by another playout rule, the one that says that “A playout match will not be played if there is a gap of 8 points or more between the two teams”. Based on this rule, today Fano would have been relegated without even having to play the play-off against Vastogirardi as the gap between the third last, Alma with 29, and the sixth last, i.e. the Real Monterotondo which has 38 points, is 9 points behind. Not to mention that next Sunday Real Monterotondo hosts bottom team Matese, while Fano is still away in Avezzano against a team aiming to reach the playoffs. A very desperate situation for Alma who were unable to avoid the defeat in Sora which will almost certainly determine the fate of the Granata. The Lazio team took the lead after just a quarter of an hour, while Fano confirmed their now entrenched inability to score from open play. Too little was done to straighten out the match, with the players who, despite fighting generously until the end, showed their limits. A setback that was not needed when we were playing our last cards to stay in Serie D.
Silvano Clappis
