retired_xs2khizar

Monday 8th March 2004

It was a good performance aside from the suicidal penalties conceded, why can't we play like that every week? Our charmed life with penalties this season is quite amazing, we have seen our various opponents miss a total of six penalties against us this season... if it wasn't so nerve wracking I would probably laugh about it.

Chairman Giuseppe Antoci again expressed how pleased he was with the win and we are back up to 12th position. After 25 matches, the table looks like THIS.

We are not the only ones who are having a less successful year than last time, as last season's divisional runner up Tivoli are languishing in 16th with 16 losses to their name, compared to 6 in the whole of last season. In direct contrast, Nocerina are enjoying themselves this year in 4th place after finishing 17th and avoiding relegation by the skin of their teeth last time round.

retired_xs2khizar

Wednesday 10th March 2004

Alessandro Bonaffini picked up a groin strain in training and will be out for the next 3 weeks.

In Serie B, Hellas Verona's dominating record of 25 wins from 27 league games means that they have already secured automatic promotion to Serie A for next season.

The 2nd legs of the Champions League Second Round took place tonight. A first goal for new boy Harry Kewell levelled the tie between AC Milan and Fenerbahce, but the Turkish side immediately struck back when former Argentinian international Ariel Ortega skipped around Dida to gain a vital away goal. A late penalty from Shevchenko made it 2-1 on the night and gave the 70,000 fans in the San Siro a glimmer of hope for the dying minutes, but it was too little too late and Fenerbahce eliminated the trophy holders on the away goals rule.

Almost as much as a shock was Arsenal's turn around at Highbury. After losing the first leg 2-0 in Spain to Real Betis, an early goal from Freddie Ljungberg sent the north London side on to an outstanding 5-0 victory including a brace from Dennis Bergkamp. They will join Fenerbahce, Dortmund, Inter, Roma, Manchester United, PSV Eindhoven and Valencia in the Champions League Quarter Finals.


Thursday 11th March 2004

On the same day that Lazio appoint Italian goalkeeping legend Dino Zoff as their new manager to replace Roberto Mancini, another famous ex-player has found a new role in his management career. Leeds United install former Newcastle and Chelsea boss Ruud Gullit at the helm.

The UEFA Cup Quarter Final 1st legs were played this evening. Robbie Keane maintained his standing as the top goalscorer in European competitions this season, bagging his 12th and 13th of the tournament to give Tottenham a 2-0 first leg lead over Celta Vigo at White Hart Lane. Elsewhere, Belgian forward Emile Mpenza earned Schalke 04 a very respectable 1-1 draw with Barcelona in the Nou Camp.

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 14th March 2004

Lodigiani visit Ragusa whilst in 8th place in the table, and we name an unchanged side from the win over Catanzaro.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Lodigiani

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

In the 27th minute a Vladimiro Caramel cross was headed clear, but when Lodigiani's De Vizzi miscontrolled the ball Fonseca was alive to nip in and steal it from him. 30 yards out he shifted it onto his left and struck an unstoppable shot into the top corner, giving goalkeeper Antonio Ricci no chance. 1-0 Ragusa.

Two minutes later Fonseca repeated his trick by catching D'Astolfo dallying in midfield, and Eddy Baggio knocked the ball first time to Francesco Erbini. With the defence caught off-guard Erbini raced in and fired past Ricci. He wasn't done there and on 33 minutes grabbed his 5th goal since arriving at the club. Caramel ran down the right, dragging Lodigiani captain Finetti out of position, played a one-two with Baggio and centered from the corner of the area, and Erbini turned and curled a right footed shot inside the near post.

Being 3-0 up at halftime I decided to make no changes, and just told the lads to carry on their excellent first half. Francesco seemed to take this literally and completed his hattrick on the hour, after Baggio had instinctively known where to find him with a clever flick, and Erbini sidefooted accurately past the keeper. As if that wasn't enough he bagged goal number four just a couple of minutes afterwards, climbing to nod home Fonseca's cross.

Final score: Ragusa 5 - 0 Lodigiani


Another good performance, we were superb and more importantly lethal in front of goal. Francesco's 4 goals is a new club record for most goals in a game and gives us our biggest win since I arrived, and his partnership with Eddy Baggio is looking very lively indeed; they are both bright and seem to work well off each other.

Vladimiro Caramel felt a twinge in his back and has been advised by Salvatore to rest for a week.

retired_xs2khizar

Thursday 18th March 2004

Arsene Wenger has been sacked by Liverpool after 10 months in the job. Following a dismal run of form that has seen them gain just 1 win from 11 matches, they have slipped down to 12th in the Premiership.

In Europe, Schalke 04 use their battling draw in the Nou Camp to go on and defeat Barcelona 2-0 at home, putting them through to the UEFA Cup Semi Finals alongside Parma, Juventus and Tottenham.

After finishing rock bottom of the Premiership last season, manager Klaus Toppmoller has Tottenham almost dead certs for at least a playoff position in the Nationwide Division One. They have also made full use of their UEFA Cup place, gained by finishing runner up in last season's FA Cup to Champions League competitors Arsenal.

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 21st March 2004

We visit the east coast of Sicily for a local clash with Acireale, who we drew 1-1 with in our previous meeting this season. Unfortunately for Vladi, his back strain has not cleared up sufficiently and he will be forced to sit out the match against his former club.

The 4-3-1-2 formation has been fairly successful in recent games so we will continue with it away from home, tweaked slightly so that the midfielders are playing more defensively.

Serie C2/C
Acireale v Ragusa

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

Cinalli makes a couple of good saves in the first half but his resistance is ended when we concede a penalty. Acireale striker Francesco Marino is able to break our penalty luck and find the net to put the home side a goal up.

We are unable to get going on the attacking front and are finding it difficult to forge chances against a strong Acireale defence, and they complete the victory when we concede a second in true Ragusa style, Marino heading home a simple corner for his second.

Final score: Acireale 2 - 0 Ragusa


Back down to earth after two straight wins are followed by a customary away loss. Gaspare Pellegrino and Marco Cirillo played well in midfield but Acireale defended expertly, and we simply couldn't get a sniff of goal.

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 28th March 2004

Carlo Ancelotti, the man who gave Milan the Serie A title and Champions League double last season, has been sacked by chairman Silvio Berlusconi. Milan are through to the Italian Cup final, but 5th in the league and an early exit from the Champions League has obviously dimmed Signor Berlusconi's view of the manager.

In Serie B, David Platt's former club Bari have announced that they have gone into receivership.


Saturday 3rd April 2004

You would think that a fortnight off with no matches would enable the players to rest and recouperate, but in fact the training ground has represented more of a hospital ward during the break. Vladimiro Caramel recovered from his back strain only to injure his neck to keep him sidelined for a further two weeks, Daniel Fonseca somehow managed to fracture his cheekbone and put himself out for three weeks, Pietro Alderuccio picked up a groin strain and will miss four weeks, and finally goalkeeper Nicolas Cinalli will miss an entire two months with a dislocated shoulder.


Fabio Capello has been appointed as the new AC Milan manager, for his third spell at the club. Capello lead the reknowned Milan of the early nineties, winning four Serie A titles and a European Cup.

The news is not so good for Frank Rijkaard, who has been sacked by Newcastle United just shy of a year into the job. Last year's title winners are currently third in the Premiership title race and are in danger of slipping out of reach of Manchester United and Arsenal. The Magpies also suffered a bad European campaign by failing to qualify from their Champions League group, and were then knocked out early in the UEFA Cup.

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 4th April 2004

Francesco Erbini's former club, Gela, arrive in Ragusa standing in 10th place, and a win for us could potentially see us sitting on their heels in 11th by the end of today. Caramel, Fonseca, Alderuccio and Cinalli are all injured, so we switch to 4-4-2 and Alessandro Bonaffini, Dario Italia and Antonio Di Giovanni will fill the gaps. Di Giovanni will especially be looking to impress, after the young keeper has not seen first team action since being substituted during the defeat at Tivoli back in December.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Gela

Ragusa lineup - Di Giovanni; Tamburro(c), Attewell, Italia, Sabellini; Bonaffini, Cirillo, Pellegrino, Chiavarini; Erbini, Baggio.

Eddy Baggio flashed an early chance wide of the post, but hard work from Chiavarini and Pellegrino worked another opportunity for him on 6 minutes. This one went closer, thunking back off the upright, but Erbini showed him how to do it by pouncing on the rebound ahead of two Gela defenders and sticking it away at the first time of asking.

With just 12 minutes gone we are two up, again thanks to Francesco Erbini. Marco Cirillo slid the ball to the edge of the area, Erbini turned, faked to shoot, then blasted a shot between two defenders into the roof of the net.

At the break Manoni came on for Bonaffini and we continued our domination in the second half. In the 68th minute Marco Cirillo made an interception and sprayed a pass wide to Baggio, whose excellent swirling cross found Erbini and Manoni coming in at the far post. Erbini's shot was saved well by Gela keeper Panico, only for the ball to fall to Franco Chiavarini's feet for an easy finish.

Final score: Ragusa 3 - 0 Gela


Another pleasing performance, we really dominated the game and Di Giovanni only had to make one save of note, albeit a good one. Danilo Sabellini finally picked up a man of the match award.

Francesco Erbini has now scored 9 goals in 9 appearances for us so far, but his fourth yellow card means that he will miss the next game at Giugliano on Sunday. Also unfortunately, L'Aquila's 1-0 win at Gladiator stops us from overtaking them and going 11th, although we do jump Frosinone into 12th place.

retired_xs2khizar

Sunday 11th April 2004

The only change from the team named against Gela is Claudio Gallicchio stepping in for the suspended Francesco Erbini. Last time we met Giugliano, Daniel Fonseca's stunning hat-trick gave us our first victory of the season.

Serie C2/C
Giugliano v Ragusa

Ragusa lineup - Di Giovanni; Tamburro(c), Attewell, Italia, Sabellini; Bonaffini, Cirillo, Pellegrino, Chiavarini; Gallicchio, Baggio.

Giugliano were up for revenge for the loss earlier in the season, but after 25 minutes it is us who strike first blood. An Eddy Baggio volley forces a corner, and Franco Chiavarini's delivery sees Gallicchio's header glancing in off the post for 1-0.

In the second half we keep it tight and the only real action is Baggio's header being saved by the Giugliano keeper, after more good work by Chiavarini down the right.

Final score: Giugliano 0 - 1 Ragusa

retired_xs2khizar

Monday 12th April 2004

We gave up most of the possession during the 90 minutes, but Stuart Attewell marshalled 23-goal Giugliano striker Agostino Muratore brilliantly and the home side were unable to seriously threaten. We stay in 12th position but that win opens up an 8 point gap between us and Olbia in 14th, the highest relegation playoff spot.


Newcastle United have announced the appointment of former Arsenal and Liverpool boss Arsene Wenger as their new manager.

retired_xs2khizar

Wednesday 14th April 2004

Almost 3000 people are in the Aldo Campo Selvaggio to watch the clash between their 12th place Ragusa and 13th Frosinone. Stuart Attewell is suspended following his fourth yellow card of the season and Pietro Alderuccio is injured, so captain Simone Tamburro will be required to step in to the centre of defence and right-back Stefano Guastella will fill in on the left. Fonseca and Caramel have recovered from their injuries but are only fit enough to make the bench.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Frosinone

Ragusa lineup - Di Giovanni; Guastella, Tamburro(c), Italia, Sabellini; Manoni, Cirillo, Pellegrino, Chiavarini; Erbini, Baggio.

It takes just 7 minutes for a lovely flowing move to present us with the first goal. The ball moved through Sabellini, Baggio, Cirillo and Erbini with first-time flicks or passes, and Manolo Manoni crowned the one-touch football with a trademark thunderous 25 yard stirke into the roof of the net. I encourage Manolo to shoot on sight and most of his goals are spectacular, but the wonderful play that preceded it made this one extra special.

At half-time the game is all Ragusa so we make no changes, and just over 10 minutes into the second half Eddy Baggio makes it 2-0 by finishing a classic break with his first goal for the club. From defending a free kick, the ball is cleared and Baggio holds it up to leave for Chiavarini. The Argentinian swings a great ball wide left to Manoni streaking up the opposite flank, and his lovely inviting ball into the area is headed home by Baggio, his marker trailing helplessly.

In the 70th minute the new signings combined, Baggio finding Erbini with his 5th assist in 6 starts and Erbini curling in his 10th goal in 10 starts to make it 3-0. The pair then earned a rest as I saved their legs to give Gallicchio and Lupo a run out up front.

Final score: Ragusa 3 - 0 Frosinone