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As I sat down with my coaching staff for a casual Saturday night pizza at Da Gigino thoughts of progression from the group stage of the Serie C Cup entered my mind for the first time. Capace had outlined the situation to me upon entering the restaurant - a win against Acireale at the comunale on Wednesday night would qualify us for the knockout stages - it was as simple as that. Acireale were already out of the running for the two qualifying spots with Taranto already qualified as group winners and us along with Igea Virtus vying for the second spot. It had never been my intention to go anywhere in the cup but with this news I was beginning to wonder if there was anything to lose in going for it, the side is quite settled now so I don't feel that the need to experiment is required before the season opener. On that note the decision was made, we would go for the win against Acireale.

On the Tuesday evening at a light training before Wednesday’s cup match my immediate plans send our most competitive side out against Acireale were dented with the news that the old warhorse Guariglia was bedridden with the flu and young left back Aruta would almost certainly be unable to play tomorrow after rolling an ankle at training today. Fortunately Alessandro Maraucci had just returned to full training after a month out with a broken foot and he will be forced to play Guariglia's strong-man role upfront to create space for the nimble Sanda.

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As the crowd filed into Stadio Italia I was amazed at just how much local interest had been stirred by the couple of statements that I’d made about the way we were planning to go all out for the win and how this was more than just another trial match. After our only previous cup match had drawn less than two thousand loyal tifosi it looked like we would almost double that tonight. In squad news Ambra has replaced the injured Tosti in goals, youngster Vincenzo Di Pinto replaces Aruta at the back, Neto who pulled up sore this week will sit on the bench with Costabile coming in on the right and Conti moving to a central midfield role, finally as discussed Maraucci will stand in for Guariglia up front alongside Sanda.

I find it hard to respond to this match. If I had gone into it with little hope I would not be concerned but I had stated that we would go for the victory and cup advancement so to go out as we did was disappointing. Sure the referee had some say in the score line however our discipline was questioned tonight and we failed the exam in a big way. I will be talking to the boys about when you should and should not be talking back to the officials as it was this that cost us two of our three dismissals tonight. It was also terribly disappointing to see the experienced Buonomo and Ferrara unable to lead by example with their poor displays of immaturity. Clean slate time though now, time to prepare for Sundays Serie C2 opener at home to Ragusa.

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I'll be with you the rest of the way, haze, but I'm afraid I can't support you in the next match. Forza Ragusa!

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I wouldn't expect you to nerf, or should i say in true italian style "Eh Forza Ragusa - i spit on you - phht! Forza Sorrento!!"
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The team selection for Sorrento's first Serie C2/C match pretty well took care of itself with the exception of the wide positions. Ambra will start in goals ahead of the injured Tosti with Aruta, Gargiulo, Rocco Paris and Ferrara along the back. Buonomo and Neto will hold the middle of the park with Russo claiming a start on the left and Conti ousting Costabile on the right. Up front the partnership of Sanda and Guariglia will be given further time to develop. Ragusa look to have built one of the leagues most formidable strike forces with Fabio De Luca and Juventus loanee Alessio Ammendolea a class above most in the Serie C2, I expect the team from the south to keep Rocco and Gargiulo very busy at the back this afternoon.

I am starting to realise that this is going to be a tougher league than I had expected. The referees will not hold back and discipline is a minor issue at this point, Andrea Conti has not endeared himself to the Sorrento tifosi (fans) at this stage and another red card did not help the enigmatic journeyman’s start in his first home league match. With the exception of his missed penalty Neto once more played a cracker in the middle of the park and the defence as a whole held firm.

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The evening after the Ragusa match the team gathered for what I plan to make a regular post match wind down at Da Gigina for pizza and and a few Nastro's. I was happy to make this the regular time off from professional football for the players and staff. Sunday night's would be unleashed, after the club duties of joining all and sundry at Da Gigina all would be free to do what they want. Tonight apparently most of the younger boys are heading over to 'The Club' which is Sorrento's one and only real night club and where all the young travellers usually end up early in the morn. The other night spot in town is the totally classless yet always action packed 'Chaplins Pub' which is modelled on the British pubs however it is by no means a theme pub, if you can imagine an Italian pub this is it. The arrogance is always in full flow at Chaplins where more locals tend to hang out rather than the touristy 'The Club'.

Monday morning after a reasonably big night at Chaplins I was awoken by Capace banging on my apartment door. Standing in the always busy Via Accademia, Capace tried to explain that I should get down to the club immediately. Conti had been involved in an incident later at Chaplins last night and he had stirred the pot with a few locals who were less than impressed by the fiery Roman's lack of respect.

The issue was dealt with swiftly as chairman Castellano and I quelled the tempers of the locals who had gathered at the clubrooms. We had to maintain unity and there was no good to be gained by trying to drive one of our new signings out of town only one match into out Serie C2/C campaign. Apparently Conti had made a few claims about the unprofessional nature of the club and how he was a too good for a club like Sorrento and deserved better than the unfair support he had received to date. Time for a chat.

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With a confident 3-0 win in their opening match of the Serie C2/C campaign Taranto have demonstrated that scoring is not an issue for the side from the east coast. The short bus trip across from the Amalfi to Ampulia and the Gulf of Taranto was pleasantly uneventful.

I utilised the couple of hours to try and get into Andrea Conti's head and find out what went on last match with his red card and the subsequent night at Chaplins, he had asked to stay back in Sorrento for this match however I made it quite clear that suspended players will (under my reign) support the side from the stands with a failure to do so at any stage demonstrating a lack of team unity and that player would not be part of the future at Sorrento. Conti explained that after the frustration of sitting on the sideline in his early days at Roma and Nocerina he decided to only sign for clubs that he would be guaranteed a starting position with. Things here in Sorrento hadn't quite gone to plan so far and he had been less than impressed by his own form which was the major factor in his frustration and the subsequent red card against Ragusa. I made it clear and simple that no one player would be guaranteed anything here at Sorrento unless they could guarantee 100% commitment to the club. The right attitude along with good form would be rewarded duly. I had come to realise from this discussion that Conti was not as confident as he comes across and it is due to this insecurity (I believe) that he has never stayed at one club for more than a single season. He will take some nurturing but hopefully I can focus his talents for Sorrento's sake and his own. Whether he can turn the tifosi around is another matter entirely.

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Despite Ambra's impressive form in goals over the past two weeks when Tosti reached full fitness he was instantly reinstated between the sticks for today's match. With Conti watching from the stands the only other alteration to the starting line up was predictable with Costabile replacing him on the right wing. Taranto relied heavily on the hard work and creative flair of Stefano Casale on the left flank whilst Francesco Passiatore is an experienced head leading the attack with authority.

The trip back to Sorrento was quite gloomy after conceding a 2-0 lead to only gain a single point, however personally I am very pleased with the way the boys held on to the point when it looked for all odds that Taranto would find a way for a third goal with all the pressure they applied in the final 15 minutes. Tosti and Neto were good today but my best certainly went to the gutsy Russo on the left wing who was tireless in playing both ways for the full 90 minutes.

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The training news was not great this week as we prepared for the trip to play Nocerina. It appears that the always dependable Giulio Russo will be forced to sit out for a couple of weeks with a groin strain that he picked up at Wednesday afternoons training session. We have been relatively lucky to date with regards to injuries and I hope that the physios Giancarlo Colonna and Leon continue to do whatever they are doing to ensure that our players are on the pitch doing what they are paid to do and not sitting and sulking in the rehab room. The injury to Russo and the return from suspension of Conti coincide nicely so I will be interested to see how the volatile Roman reacts to this opportunity to begin to redeem himself with the Sorrento fans.

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Today we travel the short distance across to our fiercest rivals Nocera Inferiore situated less than 50kms from Sorrento and just north of the mountainous region dominated by Monte di Chiunzo. With the close proximity and our rivalry factored in we will be well supported by our travelling tifosi the Hells Army. Nocerina after opening with a win and a loss look like being a formidable rival once again in this league, without any real stars they are in a similar position to us squad wise so I expect a tough encounter. With the ever impressive Russo missing for a couple of weeks as previously discussed Andrea Conti returns to the side on the left this time and on the right wing Merito gains his first start ahead of Constabile, with the exception of Merito and Conti the side remains otherwise unchanged.

If we were going to defeat just one team all season the township of Sorrento would have demanded it was this one. The fact that we did was personally very pleasing. In a match which was a real team effort Neto again was a standout with Tosti, Ferrara and Aruta dominating at the back in a match that we never were really threatened. As happy as I am with this result I feel that we were a little lucky that Nocerina didn't really get together their number one game today.

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OI gov', give that young man Esposito a chance - He's probably going to be a real peach!

Keep up the good work Haze.13 -- maybe you could give us a peek at what teams you have coming up on your schedule soz we can see who you are up against.