A much improved performance as Cittadella get their third win of the season

The Granata are back to winning ways as they defeat bottom of the table Pordenone on Saturday night. Orji Okwonkwo bagged his third goal of the 21/22 season, which puts Cittadella in fourth place for the moment.

With three games in a week on the horizon, it was expected that Edoardo Gorini would make changes to the starting eleven. That’s exactly what he did. Five changes from last weeks defeat were put onto the pitch which got the win.

Gorini, who is now 4-0-1 to start the season, was pleased by the performance his players showcased at the Tombolato, despite the score only being 1-0.

“Every time we put the ball down we put them in trouble. It wasn’t easy because Pordenone came here to get points, they played a manly game trying to close the flanks,” he explained after the match to trivenetogoal. “In the second half we also improved from the point of view of aggression, we knew it would be a difficult match.”

It was for sure a difficult match to win even if Pordenone were struggling. The Neroverdi nearly got the perfect start from this match about seven minutes in. Former Cittadella striker Frank Tsadjout received the ball on the right hand side. He saw the run from Folorunsho down the middle, and the link up play was just missing the goal. Folorunsho’s volley sheered just wide right of Elhan Kastrati’s goal.

Christian D’Urso was one of the five changes made in the lineup, and he proved himself nicely throughout the match. He was up for the opportunity and had some nice plays down both ends of the field.

Orji Okwonkwo also had a much improved performance from last week in Cremona. The striker was a headache for the Pordenone defense, as many times he bodied defenders and won free kicks following a stolen ball. In addition, he had two shots on goal, one of them was parried away by Perisan. It was a much needed confidence boost for Okwonkwo as he didn’t have his best game last weekend.

After the halftime break, Cittadella didn’t hold back on the Neroverdi and started where they left off. Their pressure finally payed off thirteen minutes after the restart. Good play down the left hand side, with Donnarumma and D’Urso linking up. The midfielder tried to thread a ball to the top of the box, where it ultimately found the feet of Enrico Baldini, who at that point was having a quiet night. Baldini’s half volley was a difficult one to handle for Perisan as he spilt the ball on top of the six yard box. Okwonkwo was first to react, and had an easy tap in for the opening goal.

For Cittadella, the team laid back a bit and allowed Pordenone to come into the match. The Granata lacked goal scoring opportunities after Okwonkwo’s goal. As the match went on, Pordenone came closer and closer to goal. With fifteen minutes to go, Pellegrini danced through the box, and was appeared to have been brought down by captain Davide Adorni. Huge penalty shouts were called from everyone on the Pordenone team, but the referee wasn’t interested. From the replay, Cittadella looked to have been off the hook.

The big chance for the visitors to steal a point came in the last seconds. A long thrown-in to defend, the ball bounced awkwardly through the Cittadella defense. A difficult set piece to defend, every Cittadella fan and players’ heart dropped when the ball fell to Pordenone attacker Nicolò Cambiaghi in front of Kastrati. With the goal in sights, a last-gasp defensive effort by Daniele Donnarumma blocked the ball from going in, and out for a corner.

It was the last play of the match. Cittadella held on and secured three big points at home. An even bigger three points when you look at the bigger picture with three matches in a week. A great start to this big week of games. Cittadella make it three league home wins out of three. With nine points to start the season, the Granata are off a running for their quest for promotion.

Gorini knows it will be hard week, with Benevento and Lecce in sights, two of the promotion contenders.

“We play three times in a week and we need everyone,” Gorini proceeded. “I am pleased that the team interpreted their commitment well, maybe we could have done better in the first half, but overall I liked the guys’ performance.”

A Tuesday night game in Benevento is next on the agenda for Cittadella. The match is at 12pm EST at the Stadio Ciro Vigorito.