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Sunday 19th October 2003

It was a lucky point in truth, because Lodigiani had far more of the play and many more shots on goal. Our two shots in the match both hit the target and one of those was Manoni's belter, so we can be fairly happy to take a point from this away game.

Pellegrino and Cirillo had rare off days by their standards - Lodigiani's direct style meant getting the ball up to their three attackers and two wide midfielders as quickly as possible, so the centre of midfield was often skipped entirely and the pair were unable to stamp their usual authority on the game. Fortunately Attewell and particularly Lenea were both superb at the back.

The point lifts us a place to 16th, while Lodigiani go 5th.


The Italian football financial crisis continues its march towards epidemic status by claiming Serie B outfit Salernitana.

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Sunday 26th October 2003

Today we are away to Catanzaro, the team currently lying 11th in the table. Last season the honours were shared between our two clubs as both fixtures ended in draws.

Franco Chiavarini is fit enough to return from injury to be named amongst the substitutes, and at the risk of tempting fate I note that it is unusual for us to be able to fill the bench with healthy players.

Serie C2/C
Catanzaro v Ragusa

Ragusa lineup - Lenea; Tamburro(c), Attewell, Alderuccio, Sabellini; Cirillo, Pellegrino, Manoni; Caramel; Fonseca, Gallicchio.

I decide to take a more attacking stance to this away fixture and it seems to catch Catanzaro unawares. Inside 2 minutes, Caramel played a one-two with Cirillo in midfield and advanced into the Catanzaro half to slide a ball through to Fonseca. Fonseca slipped a diagonal ball through the defence, Gallicchio's first touch of the game is to control the ball in the area, and then his second is to stab it past the advancing goalkeeper into the net. 1-0, a dream start.

Catanzaro quickly attempt to reply. Corazzini's good work down the left results in a cross swung to the edge of our area, where number 8 Ascoli turns a powerful header towards goal from 18 yards. The ball beats Lenea but cannons back off the crossbar, and although Silvi gets to the rebound he is ushered away and crowded out by Attewell and Alderuccio. Wanting to keep our lead intact and not risk a quick equaliser, I send Antonio out to give the order to switch to the more defensive 4-5-1 formation.

In the 26th minute, Moscelli's cross from the right deflects off Tamburro towards the near post where Bertuccelli and Alderuccio tussle for the ball... the Catanzaro foward goes down with arms flailing, and the ref awards a penalty against Alderuccio for shirt tugging. Lenea shifts nervously on his line in preparation for facing Ascoli, but the younger keeper only has to stand and watch as the Catanzaro midfielder hooks the ball right footed wide of the post - a real let off.

Ten minutes later Moscelli is involved in the Catanzaro build up again, playing a great diagonal ball to find Silvi bearing down on goal, but Giuseppe Lenea is out quickly to deny the striker. The resulting corner is headed away by Caramel, but Zanutto whips the ball straight back in to the danger area and Bertuccelli is there to guide the ball home at the near post, 1-1.

At half-time Franco Chiavarini comes on for the invisible Manoni. The second half is less eventful than the first, until Fonseca goes close on 84 minutes with a shot past the post. Shortly afterwards Catanzaro's Bertuccelli hobbles off with an injury with no substitutes left, and then when Gallicchio races on to a Fonseca through ball he is held back by the last defender. Giuseppe Zappella is shown the red card and given his marching orders for the professional foul, but the free-kick comes to nothing and it is too late in the day to capitalise on Catanzaro's reduction to 9 men.

Final score: Catanzaro 1 - 1 Ragusa


Despite the extra helping of controversy in this match, the story is a similar one to the Lodigiani game in that we were outplayed and can be considered fortunate to come away with a draw. Our one shot on target in the entire 90 minutes was our early goal, and only Giuseppe Lenea's relexes and a missed penalty stopped Catanzaro from condemning us to defeat. We are relying on the kid more than ever lately but he's coming through and putting in strong performances.

A point keeps us languishing in 16th position, the only team in the division with a zero in the win column. Our next match is with league leaders Acireale at home.

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Wednesday 29th October 2003

As the UEFA Champions League reaches the penultimate fixtures of the group stage, the game of the week is a cracker in Spain between Real Betis and Bayern Munich. Pizarro and Santa Cruz give Bayern a shock 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes, but 2 more goals from Henrik Larsson sandwiching another from Brazilian maestro Denilson help Betis come back and take the lead to the delight of 50,000 fans. It wasn't to be though, as in the 89th minute an absolute rocket from the corner of the area by Michael Ballack's right foot sends the ball screaming into the roof of the net for a late equaliser, 3-3.

The European Championship playoff first legs are also going on, and a goal from former Aston Villa striker Savo Milosevic sends Yugoslavia on their way to a 2-1 victory over Scotland at Hampden Park. It will be tough for the Scots to turn that deficit around in Yugoslavia at the weekend.


Thursday 30th October 2003

There is massive success for English clubs in the UEFA Cup 2nd Round 1st Legs tonight. In Madrid there is a tight match between Atletico and Aston Villa, a repeat of a fixture in this tournament a few seasons ago. Movilla equalised for the home side after Marcus Allback's opener, but England striker Darius Vassell pounces on a 90th minute rebound to give Villa a 2-1 lead to take home for the 2nd leg. Last time these teams met in this competition a Stan Collymore screamer in off the bar at an electric Villa Park was not enough to stop the Spaniards progressing, but the Premiership club look to have a better chance this time around.

Over in Holland a five-star and five-goal performance from Robbie Keane, including 4 goals in 15 incredible second half minutes, provides Tottenham with a stunning 6-0 away win over Feyenoord.

Even that is eclipsed by a raucous evening in the north-east of England, as 35,000 Middlesbrough fans roar their team to a shock 4-1 victory over a full strength Barcelona. Patrick Kluivert cancelled out Juninho's opener, but Ricketts, Maccarone and Christie all beat Bonano in the 2nd half to give Boro an unlikely lead in the tie. It will be interesting in the Nou Camp in a fortnight's time.


The Italian football press have more important issues closer to home to deal with, as the financial collapse sucks in a second Serie A club. Torino are next to announce the arrival of the receivers; things are really starting to get out of control.

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Sunday 2nd November 2003

Acireale arrive at the Aldo Campo Selvaggio perched atop the Serie C2/C table, having won 7 of their first 9 games. Last season their 3rd place finish saw them knocked out in the promotion playoffs, and they also had the edge in our meetings by beating us once and drawing the other.

We are able to name what I feel is our strongest eleven, so we will see what kind of damage we are potentially capable of doing to one of the early title contenders.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Acireale

Ragusa lineup - Lenea; Tamburro(c), Attewell, Alderuccio, Sabellini; Cirillo, Pellegrino, Chiavarini; Caramel; Fonseca, Gallicchio.

In the first half we have a lot of the early possession without really creating anything. Acireale managed a couple of half-chances, one saved by Lenea and one flying wide.

In the 42nd minute, Caramel swept the ball out to the left and Fonseca and Gallicchio found themselves in a 2v2 situation with Acireale defenders Aloisi and Di Salvatore. Fonseca dragged wide to collect and advance the ball while Claudio Gallicchio sprinted down the centre, and a well timed pass by the Uruguayan found Claudio wide open ahead of his marker but onside. Acireale goalkeeper Granata advanced off his line, but with all the time in the world Gallicchio hit his shot straight at the keeper to waste a glorious chance.

At the half I'm fairly pleased with the way things are going so make no alterations. Five minutes after the break, Acireale left back Suriano attempts a low pass to teammate Delle Vedove which is intercepted brightly by Franco Chiavarini. The Argentinian midfielder gets his head up and looks straight for Gallicchio, threading a nice pass through for the striker to run on to. Inside the box slightly right of centre, Gallicchio connects with a powerful strike across the keeper to score his third league goal of the season, 1-0.

Acireale immediately go onto the attack to try and get back on level terms. Delle Vedove picks the ball up on the left and curls a floating cross in towards striker Ventura, and just as his header looks to be travelling into the net with Giuseppe Lenea off balance and moving in the opposite direction, the young keeper desperately reaches back to claw the ball away with his fingertips. It is a quite magnificent save, reminiscent of one I remember seeing David Seaman make against Sheffield United. As Tamburro happily launches the ball safely into touch, Ventura can't believe that it isn't already nestling in the net.

Shortly before Lupo replaces the subdued Daniel Fonseca, Lenea tips another effort over the bar. A minute later he is called into action yet again, when Cutrufello's cross from the right is nodded into the mix by Vegna on the edge of the box, and Acireale's Marino diverts a volley towards goal from just 8 yards. At point blank range, Lenea blocks with an impressive reflex stop and Pellegrino hoofs the ball clear.

Unfortunately, whoever is in control of our fate appears to have a sense of humour. In the 88th minute of the match, Delle Vedove gets to the byline and crosses to the edge of the 6 yard box. Lenea checks and then sinks to the grass as his foot slips and gives way beneath him, leaving him stumbling to the ground while Ventura dives full stretch at the ball to get there first and nod it into the open net. As Giuseppe limps off on a twisted ankle to be replaced by Nicolas Cinalli for the last couple of minutes, it is an incredibly unlucky end to an impressive performance by the 18 year old.

Final score: Ragusa 1 - 1 Acireale

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Monday 3rd November 2003

After the first 10 games the table looks like THIS.
Yet another draw leaves us sitting in 17th, still with no wins to our name, whilst Acireale lose their spot at the top to Varese.

There can be differing opinions about our start to the season depending on which angle you look at it from. On the one hand, 17th is 17th and a big fat lonely zero in the wins column is not something to boast about. Our average of 1 goal every 2 games makes us the lowest scorers in the division, and at this point last year our 'poor start' had already given us 14 goals and 12 points, compared to an even worse 5 and 7 now.

On the other hand we have not lost in the last 5 matches, coinciding with the first 5 matches that Attewell and Alderuccio have played together at the back. We also have one of the better defensive records in the division, conceding just 9 goals. Injuries to important players like Tamburro, Chiavarini, Cirillo, Caramel, and Chiavarini again have hampered us, meaning that yesterday was the very first time that my intended first-choice eleven had appeared together this season, and with that eleven we came within a whisker of beating the (then) division leaders.

In summary we have made a disappointing start and the table does not lie, but I am far from panicking or expecting a relegation fight. Although my initial hope of mounting a challenge for the promotion playoff spots is rapidly looking more and more difficult and heading towards impossible, last season's finish of 8th is well within our reach if we are able to stay relatively injury free. I'm confident that with our best team on the pitch we can start to put some wins together and prove that we are absolutely not a 17th-place team.

As if we need a difficult test to do that, we have to travel to free-scoring Gela in 2 weeks. Gela striker Francesco Erbini is continuing the intentions of his 42-goal haul last season by netting 11 times in his 14 appearances so far this term. The good news is that Giuseppe's ankle is not as bad as it might have been, and after a bit of swelling he should easily be back in more than enough time to face off with Signor Erbini.


This weekend the European Championship Qualifiers came to an end. Scotland were unable to overturn their first leg playoff deficit as a single goal from Real Sociedad forward Darko Kovacevic sends Yugoslavia through 3-1 on aggregate; Croatia, Greece, Russia and Slovenia win the other playoffs to join hosts Portugal and the group winners on the finalised list of qualifiers for Euro 2004.

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Wednesday 5th November 2003

After some fairly smooth and easy discussions Danilo Sabellini has signed a new contract at the club. The new full-time deal keeps him here until July 2006 and more accurately reflects his standing in the squad, as we have been very happy with his individual performances this year, showing the kind of form that he hinted at during an injury plagued campaign last season. I have also been tipped off that clubs such as Sampdoria and Reggiana have been keeping tabs on the 20 year old right back, but we have not had any contact from them and are not interested in selling unless they come with silly money.


Thursday 13th November 2003

The UEFA Cup 2nd round 2nd legs took place tonight across Europe. In England, Aston Villa completed their revenge over Atletico Madrid with a 2-0 victory sealing their passage through to round 3, Vassell again claiming the second. Tottenham played out a 2-2 draw with Feyenoord; Robbie Keane was absent from the 2nd leg but had done enough in his 1st leg heroics to put his side through already.

The Nou Camp was indeed interesting, as Middlesbrough travelled to Spain looking to use their 4-1 lead to produce an upset. Barcelona were in no mood for messing around though, and after going 1-0 up Patrick Kluivert offered a second half brace to change that to 3-0. The Spanish giants dominated the entire game, barely giving Middlesbrough a look in, and will progress through to the third round on the away goal rule.

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Sunday 16th November 2003

Gela lie 9th at the time of our meeting, having a much less explosive start than last season when they went out in front as the early pace setters. In this fixture last season they beat us 3-2, and in the home fixture Stephen Cooke's only goal for Ragusa was our contribution to a 1-1 draw.

Serie C2/C
Gela v Ragusa

Ragusa lineup - Lenea; Tamburro(c), Alderuccio, Attewell, Sabellini; Fonseca, Cirillo, Caramel, Pellegrino, Chiavarini; Gallicchio.

Claudio Gallicchio wastes two reasonably good chances in the first half, putting one over the bar and the other well wide after Caramel had created both. On the stroke of half-time an Erbini cross is poked away from Albano by Caramel, but the ball falls for Gela number 8 Santo Matinella who almost takes the back of the net out with a furious strike from 10 yards.

A goal down at half-time, we switch to 4-3-1-2 in the hope of clawing a goal back quickly. Five minutes after the break disaster strikes again, with dire consequences. Another ball into our box causes a melee and the ball bobbles towards the far post, where Lenea looks to scramble it wide to safety, but Gela's Albano comes sliding in feet first to try and hook the ball in before it leaves the pitch. He's unsuccessfull, but there's a crunching collision and a cry of pain splits the air... immediately fearing the worst I go running across the pitch with Salvatore trailing me, to find Giuseppe Lenea writhing on the floor in serious agony. He had been caught in the collision between player and post and the poor kid's shin was bent in an unnatural way.

As he is carefully stretchered off one or two of our players have something to say to Albano, but it wasn't really a malicious challenge, and after Nicolas Cinalli has taken up his place in goal the game is able to resume.

On 64 minutes things continue to go badly, when Commandatore's free-kick somehow finds Albano on the edge of our six yard box. Attewell and Tamburro both dive in to block as he swings to shoot from close range, but the ball cannons off Tamburro into the corner of the net and it's 2-0 to the home side. Daniel Fonseca grabs a goal back just two minutes later, showing his dead-ball prowess with a wickedly dipping 30 yard free-kick into the bottom corner, but we are unable to get back into the game to threaten Gela's lead.

Final score: Gela 2 - 1 Ragusa

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Monday 17th November 2003

Giuseppe was rushed to hospital and x-rays confirmed that he has broken his leg, and the doctors' early prediction is that he will be out of action for around 7 months. Not only do we lose our starting goalkeeper for the season but the loss to Gela sinks us to 18th and bottom of the division.

I think I can safely say that we have struck our lowest point since I took over as manager some 17 months ago. The team spirit that had been so high last season has dissipated this season and we've hit rock bottom in the league. Still, now is not the time for depression or regret, we have to get back in the saddle and get back on track, and any other motivational cliche you can come up with. I came here to do a job and there is no way that this club is going to even be involved in the relegation fight come the end of this season.

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Sunday 23rd November 2003

Our rehabilitation must start with the visit of Giugliano, a team who we exchanged 1-0 results with last season.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Giugliano

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; Tamburro(c), Attewell, Alderuccio, Sabellini; Cirillo, Pellegrino, Chiavarini; Caramel; Fonseca, Gallicchio.

It is important that we begin brightly and we do that with Gallicchio thumping the upright on 11 minutes. Sabellini's chip forward was laid off by Fonseca, and Gallicchio's swerving right foot drive from 25 yards rattled the outside of the woodwork.

Daniel Fonseca wasted a good chance 5 minutes later, producing a dismal effort after Caramel had played him in, but he redeemed himself on 20 minutes. A free-kick was won 25 yards out, slightly right of centre, and Fonseca's spectacular curling effort sailed into the top corner for 1-0. Just two minutes later Simone Tamburro's long ball from the left found Fonseca in behind his marker Veronese, and as the ball bounced in the area the Uruguayan let it drop and swept it low under the keeper on the half-volley. 2-0.

It only took him until the 34th minute to complete a clinical first half hat-trick, again from a Tamburro pass and this time confidently slotting home through the keeper's legs. The second half was relatively quiet, with Cinalli making a couple of decent saves to protect his clean sheet, and although Chiavarini and Gallicchio both went close there was no further scoring.

Final score: Ragusa 3 - 0 Guigliano


Oh how we needed that! A thumping 3-0 victory in front of a home crowd, and no sooner had we hit the bottom of the league then we have sprung up to 15th. Daniel can be accused of occasional laziness, but he stepped up at the most crucial time to give us a comfortable lead and ease our worries for a bit. Chairman Giuseppe Antoci did his bit for team morale by coming into the changing room straight after the game with a big smile on his face, declaring himself extremely pleased with the result.

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Sunday 30th November 2003

Frosinone away will be a tough test for us after the Giugliano win. I resist the usual more defensive formation for an away match, instead keeping the same approach that we took to the home game and gambling on us being able to continue some momentum. Marco Cirillo picked up a chest injury this week so Manolo Manoni takes his place.

Serie C2/C
Frosinone v Ragusa

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; Tamburro(c), Attewell, Alderuccio, Sabellini; Manoni, Pellegrino, Chiavarini; Caramel; Fonseca, Gallicchio.

We make a bad start as Frosinone's Sossio Aruta gets ahead of Alderuccio to nod home a cross from the left in the 12th minute, and it is 2-0 to the home side just after the half hour. A rare mix-up between Tamburro and Attewell results in Luca Galuppi taking advantage of the hestitation to nip in a find the top corner with his finish.

The second half never really gets going, and although substitute Lupo has the ball in the net on 70 minutes it is disallowed for offside.

Final score: Frosinone 2 - 0 Ragusa