Trapani 1 – Messina 1
Markers: 3′ st Anatriello, 48′ st Udoh.
Trapani (4-3-3): Seculin 5.5; Ciotti 6, Celiento 5.5, Silvestri 6, Sabatino 5 (12′ st Bifulco 5); Carriero 5.5 (12′ st Crimi 5.5), Karic 6, Carraro 6 (12′ st Spini 6); Kanoute 6 (16′ st Udoh 7), Lescano 5, Fall 5.5. Annex Aronica 5.5.
Messina (4-3-3): Krapikas 7; Lia 7, Rizzo 7, Manetta 6.5, Morleo 6 (22′ st Ortisi 6); Frisenna 6, Pedicillo 7 (48′ st Adragna ng), Anzelmo 4; Garofalo 7, Petrungaro 6.5 (22′ st Cominetti ng, 33′ st Luciani ng), Anatriello 7.5 (33′ st Mamona ng). Annex Modica 6.5.
Referee: Zanotti of Rimini 6. Notes: approximately 6,000 spectators (221 from Messina). Expelled: at 21′ pt Anzelmo (M) for incorrect play. Ammonites: Rizzo, Krapikas, Mamona, Crimi. Angles: 7-1, Recovery: 1′ st, 5′ st.
Messina was looking for points away from home while Trapani wanted to make an important change to their home performance which had been lacking so far (4 points in 3 games). The 1-1 final partially satisfies both but leaves Messina with more regrets. Who led the match with the man less from the 21st minute and saw the success slip away in full injury time. Modica can applaud his team’s performance but he is left with a bitter taste. Trapani recovered at the end but the performance was insufficient and Acr would have deserved to win the derby again after 25 years. A defensive oversight on the substitution made at the end cost two very heavy points. But the team deserves the applause that the over 200 fans who arrived from the Strait gave them.
Modica starts with Morleo in defense and tackles Trapani in midfield as they struggle to find space. Messina finds him with Pedicillo who from outside calls Seculin to save in the corner. As the minutes passed, however, Trapani grew and pushed with Carriero: a left foot over the crossbar and Karic who was knocked out to the limit by Rizzo. Carraro’s return free kick commits Krapikas. The home team’s push puts Messina’s defense in difficulty as Anzelmo uses strong tactics on Lescano. The resulting free kick did not create any problems but the yellow card received by the midfielder would prove to be decidedly influential because two minutes later Anzelmo was once again the protagonist of a foul in midfield on Carriero who had taken the ball away from him while pressing. Second yellow and subsequent red which sends the midfielder to the locker room and leaves Messina with ten men.
It is the turning point that could change the face of a hitherto balanced challenge. Modica shows courage and holds the double tip (4-3-2). Aronica on the other hand gives energy to its wingers Kanoute and Fall. Crosses from the wingers begin to become a factor and in the 24th minute Lia does a great job in taking the ball away from Fall’s head, one step away from scoring.
Then it’s Krapikas’s turn to become the protagonist of the match with a double decisive intervention on close shots from Kanoute and Lescano. However, right at the end, with the hosts seeming to take a breather waiting for the break, it is Messina who builds the most dangerous action with a counterattack that Anatriello concludes from twenty metres. His left foot is powerful, it goes past Seculin but crashes against the crossbar. So we go to the break with the result tied.
But the goal was postponed to the 3rd minute of the second half when a counterattack by Lia led to Petrungaro’s shot and Anatriello’s strike on Seculin’s short rebound. Goal after 289′ of abstinence. Aronica draws heavily from the bench in the 12th minute, drawing a super offensive 3-4-3. Modica is not lucky with the substitutions because Cominetti, injured, remains on the pitch for only 10 minutes. Trapani pushed but didn’t create any chances until the 90th minute with Udoh hitting the crossbar with his head. But in the 3rd minute of injury time from a corner, forgotten by the defence, he scored his first goal in the league, beating Messina when perhaps no one believed it anymore.