A bad Toro grab a late draw against Catania

di Andrea Rosselli

A volley shot by Franceschini in the 85th minute allowed Toro to prevent collecting the fifth defeat of the season and grab a 1-1 draw against Catania.

The match was played without spectators on the Bari neutral pitch, and once again Toro's performance was disappointing to say the least. Catania played much better and took a deserved lead in the middle of the first half, although thanks to a very doubtful penalty kick converted by Spinesi, but until Franceschini's equalizer the result was never seriously threatened by a Granata team that looked even worse than in the previous outings: slow, predictable and confused, with plenty of mistakes made by ten players who in most cases literally didn't know what to do with the ball and furthermore showed an unacceptable lack of determination.

In the first half Marino's men were much more concentrated, fast and tactically accurate: this allowed them to create some good chances both before and after taking the lead, while Toro built thair first decent play only in the 40th minute with a shot by Comotto, well saved by Pantanelli. For sure, Zaccheroni's umpteenth tactical change (Ardito for suspended De ascentis, Fiore behind the offensive duo Muzzi-Stellone) didn't give any positive result.

If things changed in the second part of the game, Toro must thank Catania striker Mascara, who was ejected in the 51st minute for elbowing Cioffi while jumping for the ball. In 11 against 10 Toro at least showed more determination, but despite that the Granata were unable to create a single scoring opportunity, and things didn't change even with Rosina and Abbruscato replacing Cioffi and Muzzi respectively. On the contary, it was Catania that went close to the 2-0 with a shot by Caserta superbly saved by Abbiati. With five minutes to go, a free kick by Gallo found Franceschini all alone inside the box: good volley shot by the Granata defender and 1-1 draw.

Boosted by the lead, Toro kept on attacking and went even close to the victory in the 90th minute, when Pantanelli was forced to make a very good save on a shot by Rosina. But for this bad, bad Toro a draw was already a great reward.