Serie C | Pineto-Torres and Olbia-SPAL: numbers and precedents

Last chapter of the championship Olbia And Torresdirected towards the 38th day of the Group B from the Lega Pro 2023/2024. Both teams will be on stage Sunday 28 April at 8:00 pm. In fact, the game will only be played to update the almanacs, with the verdicts involving the contenders having already been written. There Torrescertain of second place, is engaged in the last official race before a significant break waiting for her turn in the playoffs. The opponent, within the walls of the Pavone-Mariani Stadiumit will be there Pineto, newly promoted among the revelations of the group who deservedly put salvation in their pocket. L’Olbia instead he bids farewell to Serie C by hosting al Bruno Nespoli there SPAL, a negative surprise in the championship, which however managed to maintain the category. Let’s see how the clubs arrive at these matches, analyzing the statistics relating to the current season, with an eye on previous meetings.

Pineto-Torres: the teams’ state of form
The rossoblù of Greek they are veterans of1-1 home against the league leaders Cesena, thus becoming the only team in the group to have never fallen to the league’s dominators. However, it is also the fourth unsuccessful match in a row, which nevertheless delivered the mathematical certainty of 2nd position (and therefore direct access to second round of the national play-off phase), by virtue of 74 points achieved so far. The Pineto it comes instead from the external defeat for 2-0 on the field of SPALbut it is a sweet defeat, because it mathematically certified the permanence of the Abruzzo team in Serie C, who are currently in 12th position to 44 points. Much of Pineto’s salvation came above all from the excellent defensive phase, which allowed the white and bluewith 40 goals conceded, to have better numbers than several teams in the playoff zone (Pescara, Juventus Next Gen, Pontedera, Rimini, Arezzo). Not far away Torreswho with his 36 goals conceded (23 in the return round alone) stands as the fifth best defense in the group, behind Cesena (19), Carrarese (29), Perugia (33) and Entella (35).

Barring a strong use of the second lines, which is however to be expected, in a match that will be above all a party and a way to experiment, there could be an interesting long-distance challenge between two of the best goalkeepers in the group. Andrew Zaccagno up to now he has kept the rossoblù goal clean 12 times, also neutralizing 3 penalties (best figure in the group equal to Meli della Recanatese) out of the 5 faced. Alexander Tonti instead he canceled a penalty on the 3 against, while he kept the Abruzzo goal clean 10 times. Different story in the offensive phase, with i Sassari who have the third mouth of fire of the championship (54 goals) after Cesena (78) and Pescara (57), while i white and blue they are stopped at altitude 36 goals accomplished. Only Lucchese (34), Entella (32), Fermana (29) and Olbia (24) did worse. Despite this, their respective top scorers are not far apart in the scorers’ rankings. If in fact the rossoblù number 10 Ruocco has signed so far 12 goalsEmilio Volpicellian expert white-blue striker, scored 11 goals.

Olbia-SPAL: the teams’ form
THE Gallura are veterans of 2-2 in the house of Pontederawhich put an end to the streak of 4 defeats in a row, bringing them to the top 26 points and certifying thelast place in the championship, with Fermana 5 points away with 90′ remaining in the season. There SPAL instead it is fresh from home success for 2-0 against the Pinetowhich brought the certainty of remaining in Serie C. In fact, i 46 points they are not enough for the blue and whites to try to break away from11th position and try to reach the playoffs in the last round, with Arezzo, in 10th position, at 50 points. For both contenders it will be a race that will bid farewell to a season full of regrets. Many of these are also due to the lack of creativity shown. THE Gallura they have the worst attack in the championship, stuck at altitude 24 goalswith Ragatzu best scorer at altitude 8 goalsa far cry from the 19 goals that gave him the title of top scorer last season.

There SPALin this unenviable ranking, follows in sixth position, with 36 goals facts, even if it shares the highest number of players who scored with Gubbio and Pescara (17). Of these, the best scorer is the captain Antenucci (5 goals), followed by the central defender Valentini at altitude 4 goals, a clear symptom of how more than one thing went unplanned during the Ferrara season. The defensive numbers ofOlbia they talk about a team that has suffered up until now 63 goals, one less than the worst defense in the group, that of Recanatese. There SPAL instead, by virtue of 39 goals conceded so far, they are in seventh place among the best defenses in the group, with only 15 goals conceded at home.

Previous
The only challenges between Olbia And SPAL they go back over the years Seventyin the only seasons of the blue and whites spent in Serie C during a golden period that saw them as protagonists between Serie B and Serie A. First meeting of the season ’69/’70in Ferrara, in a one-sided match, with the hosts prevailing for 4-0 on the Gallura people. The return match in Sardinia was scoreless. SPAL also prevailed in the two matches of the following season, with a double 1-0. We have to wait for the season ’71/’72 for the first Gallura success. After the first leg, which ended goalless, Olbia prevailed in the match in Gallura 1-0 SPAL thanks to Eliseo’s goal Crosses, a former player who will return to Ferrara at the end of the season. This remains the only victory for the whites so far in the history of a match decidedly in favor of the blue and whites. The back-to-back challenges continue into the season ’72/’73characterized by two more successes for SPAL, which prevailed at home for 4-0with a hat-trick of Piebaldand then the tick for 0-1 in Olbia. These are two of the many victories that bring the biancazzurri to Serie B. We must therefore wait for the relegation of the Ferrara team, for another double challenge, which takes place in Serie C ’77/’78 and which opens with another white-blue victory, this time with a tennis score of 6-0. Then a draw for 1-1, with SPAL’s lead sealed by Manfrin achieved by Domenghini’s signature goal, in the only season spent in Olbia. The championship ends with the teams in diametrically opposite positions: SPAL first and in Serie B, Olbia last and included in the newly created Serie C2. Thus 45 seasons pass before the new chapter, which took place in the current 2023/2024 Serie C season. The first leg match Paolo Mazza ended on 2-0 for the Ferrarese, thanks to the goals of Bassoli and Valentini.

Challenge between Torres And Pineto which has a couple of precedents. One in the Serie D Italian CupIn the 2019. On that occasion, with Alessandro Masala and Riccardo Pinna among the rossoblù ranks, Pineto won on penalties in Sassari (5-7), after a sparkling 3-3 in regulation time scored by Samuele Pinna, Viale and Sartor for the people of Sassari and by Pepe, Ciarcelluti and Orlando for the people of Abruzzo. In the first match of the current season, the first championship match, played at Vanni Sanna it’s over 1-0 for the rossoblù thanks to the free kick by Scott.

Andrea Finiu