Pordenone’s Serie A dream ends on penalties. After a spectacular match, spent chasing and yet dominated for large stretches, the “lizards” paid dearly for their lack of clarity in the final lottery, which gave the top flight to Manfredonia, in the final in Faenza. In front of more than 300 black-and-green hearts in the stands, Hrvatin’s boys began the match uphill, losing Bortolin after 2′, the victim of a fortuitous slip to the face: he escaped with a swollen eye, but enough to never be able to return.
The match, however, remains more than balanced, with the extremes particularly industrious. At 11’23” the balance was broken by a Neroverde defensive error. The ball goes to the back for Giampaolo, who calls Vascello out, thus freeing the door for Barbieri’s follow-up strike: Langella’s retreating opposition is in vain.
Pordenone was not there and from then on, in fact, became the master of the match. At 12’02” Glielmi smacks with a great reflex on Chtioui, who 53” however finds the winning lunge with a low shot from the edge of the box following a brilliant pass from Grzelj. Early but ephemeral parity, given that at 13’45” the neroverdi once again found themselves having to chase an own goal from Captain Finato, clumsily anticipating Barbieri’s possible tap-in. The end of the half had strong Friulian colours, with the young Minatel as the protagonist, first in challenging Glielmi on a ball headed for the top corner (18’32”) and then in chipping the lower part of the crossbar (18’39”).
These are the signs of a one-sided second half. Glielmi miraculously performs a miracle at 1’20” on a shot from the edge of Štendler, while at 4’58” in a double chance at close range Grigolon first hits the second woodwork of the day and then finishes just wide. These are the evidence of the draw, which arrives promptly 23” later with a left-footed volley by Ziberi from the attacking midfield following a corner by Štendler. Manfredonia, which at 11’45” already has five fouls on its back, seems to be in obvious difficulty, yet the neroverdi fail to make the decisive attack. Glielmi is decisive at least twice, on Štendler (12’16”) and Ziberi (18’07”), Ceppi catechizes him to avoid further infringements.
We go to extra time, and after 3’38” the Foggia players seem to make it their own, converting a free kick from the edge of the box with Taliercio. Irreducible, Hrvatin’s men instead managed to score the 3-3 goal 9” from the 50th minute with a slide by Grigolon. The 300 Naonians in the stands explode, they too are heroic like Leonidas’ Spartans at Thermopylae. From the spot, however, the heart is not enough. Glielmi closes on Štendler and Minatel, while the Apulians are impeccable. And so they go to Serie A.
