Serie C, playoffs: promoted Foggia, Pescara, Vicenza, Lecco and Entella

Great emotions in the return of the first round of the national phase: Entella, Vicenza, Lecco, Pescara and Foggia qualify after a sensational comeback.

Tomorrow, at the Lega Pro headquarters in Florence, the draw for the quarter-finals (May 27 and 31) and the draw that will lead to the final on June 13 and 18. At 12 (live on Sky Sport 24, as well as on Lega Pro’s Youtube and Facebook channels), the Sassuolo coach, Alessio Dionisi, was invited to draw from the urn. The three runners-up (Pordenone, Cesena and Crotone) and Entella, the best-placed among the qualifiers from the first national round, enter as seeded. The rules do not change for the quarter-finals: the top seeds will play the second leg at home with the possibility of qualifying even with the same number of goals scored in the 180′ (no extra time is foreseen). Here is everything that happened tonight.

ENTELLA-GUBBIO 3-1
After losing 2-0 in Umbria, Entella reacted strongly and went through with the necessary two-goal difference. In Chiavari it ends 3-1 for Volpe’s team, in a split challenge already at the start. In fact, Entella takes just 10 minutes to restore balance: Silvio Merkaj opens after 4′ (on a ball stolen forward by Tomaselli), doubles Gaston Ramirez – second goal of the season, all from a standstill – with a left-handed brushstroke from a free-kick . The 3-0 is a jewel, worth Merkaj’s brace: the Albanian kicks off the action in his own half, takes advantage of Meazzi’s side and crosses an elusive right-footed shot from the edge for Di Gennaro. The penalty converted by Vazquez (hands of Zappella) puts a little salt in the final, but Entella goes ahead and will be seeded in the draw.

FOGGIA-CERIGNOLA 3-0
The real feat of the evening is that of Foggia: they needed to win the derby with Cerignola with three goals difference (after the 4-1 in the first leg) and Delio Rossi’s team succeeded, scoring them all in the last 17 minutes. Zaccheria was ignited by Schenetti with a diagonal from inside the area, then a deadly one-two in full recovery from Frigerio and Kontek. The decisive goal, that of the Croatian defender, comes from the development of a corner kick and sparks a party unimaginable until recently.

VICENZA-PRO SESTO 2-0
Down by a goal after the first leg, Vicenza overturned Pro Sesto in front of the 8,000 spectators at the Menti. The first half is not exciting for Thomassen’s team, probably blocked by fear. Everything changes after the interval: Stoppa unlocks it, kicking excellently in the area by picking up a teammate’s back board. Dalmonte’s double was also on the fly, closing the score midway through the second half with a great left from the edge.

LECCO-ANCONA 1-1
In the quarterfinals there is also Lecco, which is enough to eliminate Ancona in front of the 4 thousand of Rigamonti Ceppi. Foschi’s team, after a 2-2 draw in the first leg, found themselves down in the first half’s recovery through Di Massimo. However, the draw comes halfway through the second half, with defender Battistini good at getting in from a corner kick. Marco Donadel’s Ancona, this time, does not place the usual paw in the final (which has become habitual in the previous rounds) and ends its run, despite having never lost in these playoffs (three draws and one success).

PESCARA 3-1 VIRTUS VERONA
He suffers at the start (and even after, on dead balls), but Zeman’s Pescara passes with conviction, pushed by the almost ten thousand who filled the Adriatic. After the draw in the first leg, against Virtus Verona he finished 3-1 in a match which, however, didn’t go very well for the blue-and-whites: in the quarter of an hour Virtus ahead with Kristoffersen, sent on goal by Casarotto. An immediate draw from Brosco, following a flying assist from Lescano, with Pescara still risking – before the interval – when it was still Kristoffersen who wasted a great opportunity. Upon returning from the changing rooms, however, Delle Monache takes the chair: the 18-year-old jewel, after scoring twice in the first leg, this time set up the assist for Kraja’s 2-1 with a great personal action, who then also found the three of a kind (and personal double) from outside the box. In the final, Daffara’s useless cross that doesn’t allow Virtus to shorten.