Mantova 2-2 Reggina

By: Dan | September 14th, 2009

A valuable point on the road… but could have been so much more.

Let’s all remind ourselves that we are one of the best teams in Serie B and should be able to take care of the Mantova’s of the world. We blew a 2-0 lead on Saturday and weren’t able to prevent the home team from coming back and equalizing the score. Granted we were on the road, hadn’t played a competitive match in two weeks, and certain players were still recovering from international duty.

Serie B direct goal cast only showed the 4 goals in this game, so I’ve also watched the highlights that were provided on regginacalcio.tv. They were frankly better than us in the first half and created more opportunities for themselves. We had to deal with an injury to Bonazzolli in the first half, which is why Cacia entered. Biagio Pagano was also subbed in the first half, but not for any injury problems. Apparently Novellino has been less than thrilled with Pagano’s performances in the midfield. So why not put Daniel Adejo there and see what he can do? I want to see him.

The second half took a turn in our favor. Cacia had a wonderful strike from distance that the keeper could only get his fingertips on. And soon after this first goal, Brienza doubled the lead with one of his vintage slalom-esque runs, weaving in and out of defenders. At this point you would think a second half 2-0 lead would be enough… but nope.

Mantova bounced a ball into the box that was finished off with a close range header. It looked like young Daniele Capelli could have been able to clear that one out. Big mistake on his part. And then after a nervy final 20 minutes when it looked like we were home free… Mantova gets the equalizer in the 90TH EFFING MINUTE. Jesus.

I’ll take the point, but it’s time to start winning some games. We can do so immediately, as our make up game with Vicenza is scheduled for TOMORROW! Kickoff I believe is at 9:30 AM ET here in the states. We should see a decent amount of changes due to the proximity of this match with Saturday’s. Carmona didn’t play on Saturday, so he could be back. Bonazzoli was hurt so his return is questionable. Cacia could get his first start after his good performance. And perhaps Alessio Viola will partner up with him because Brienza played the whole 90 minutes against Mantova.

This game is at home. It is ours for the taking. Forza Reggina!

Here are the 19 convened for the match:

GK: Cassano, Marino
DF: Buscè, Camilleri, Capelli, Cascione, Lanzaro, Rizzato, Valdez
MF: Barillà, Carmona, Missiroli, Morosini, Pagano, Volpi
FW: Bonazzoli, Brienza, Cacia, A. Viola