Pro Vercelli 1-0 SPAL
And so he came to pass.
At the very point Vinicio Espinal was providing an inch perfect ball for Simone Malatesta to slot home the winner, I was sat in the other room – away from the patchy feed – reading vivaio rime (nursery rhymes) to la mia bambina (my baby girl).
The game, like the nursery rhymes, was fairly predictable to that point. Pro Vercelli looked to do everything down their left through Pietro Iemmello. It didn’t happen. Either the balls were hit too long, the support lacking or SPAL simply put the numbers on him; snuffing out any prospect he had of getting the ball across.
It was therefore no surprise that he was withdrawn midway through the second half. It was from that point that Pro Vercelli finally started to apply some much needed pressure on their opponents - pressure that was clearly lacking as they played most of the first half on the back foot.
SPAL have good reason to leave the Silvio Piola with more than a little sense of injustice with the result. Alex Valentini, Pro’s ever present keeper this term, pulled off a string of important saves to keep his side in the game. Some woeful finishing also helped his cause in a man-of-the-match performance.
SPAL should have had a penalty midway through the first half, as hand clearly moved towards ball in the area. It looked more reminiscent of a pallavollo (volleyball) play, than something expected of a footballer. The referee appeared to be well placed, but pointed for another corner.
The one bright spark of the first half saw Gianni Fabiano play a slide rule pass through the heart of the defence, releasing Malatesta in a one on one with Luca Capecchi in the SPAL goal. Malatesta never really backed himself, and the keeper did enough to block the chance. Pro then went back to hoofing the ball down the left as the half drew to a close.
For all the bad decision making in the first half, two flashes of inspiration showed exactly why Pro are currently just one point off second spot. First Espinal had a goal chalked off for an earlier offside; then the Dominican came in to his own with his role in the winning goal.
With only five minutes of normal time left to play, Espinal and Malatesta combined perfectly to unhinge a previously solid, SPAL defence. A determined run by Pietro Tripoli was followed by a ball square to Espinal. The Dominican dummied and spun; leaving the ball to go through to Malatesta on the edge of the box. Malatesta then slipped the ball through the a static SPAL defence in to the path of Espinal’s run, before he unselfishly, and in one movement, slipped a pass back across goal to Malatesta for the simplest of conversions.
Pro Vercelli now face league leader’s Ternana with the best run of form in Lega Pro. They will need to maintain that form if they are to close the five point gap on the leaders; though given where they were this time last year, simply maintaining their play-off spot will be a great return from the first half of the season.
One interesting point of note from the coverage, was RAI’s use of an ex-Italian female international in their commentating line up. Katia Serra, previously a league champion with Modena, who was picked 20 times for her country. Her inclusion as a summariser would be the equivalent of Sky Sports using someone like Faye White of Arsenal Ladies and England in the commentary box for a League One game.
Italy is not normally seen as a country where women have an equal footing with their male counterparts – so it was rather surprising, in the least, to hear a female voice in such a positive, authoritative manner – if only I could understand what she was saying.
