Despite a point on the road, Cittadella fall behind in the playoff race

After leading for 55 minutes on Friday night against Parma, Cittadella have to split the points at the Tardini. It looked to be a fair result, but the rivaling teams keep winning.

Giacomo Beretta’s penalty was looking like the only goal in Parma as Cittadella were trying to see out what would’ve been a huge three points. But an 81st minute header by Stanko Juric denied the Granata maximum points, keeping them out of the playoff zone.

It could be worse, though. Beretta, who converted the penalty in the first half, conceded one in the last seconds of the match on a handball. With a penalty kick to win it, Juan Brunetta smashed the crossbar on his effort. A golden opportunity for Parma to get their first win since February 26th, but Brunetta’s chance goes begging.

Meanwhile for Cittadella, the crossbar saves the day on what would’ve been a second straight loss, and pulling Edoardo Gorini’s side further away from the playoffs. It wasn’t a pretty game, and perhaps we should’ve walked away with three points. A draw is not the end of the world, in fact, it was looking like a favorable result.

Unfortunately for Cittadella, every team battling them for a playoff spot won their respective games this weekend!

In incredible fashion, Ascoli stole a 2-1 win against SPAL thanks to a 90th minute screamer from Marcel Buchel. Frosinone took care of business at home against 10 men Alessandria. Monza comfortably beat Vicenza 4-0 at the U-Power Stadium. Perugia, similar to Ascoli, also scored a last minute rocket to beat Reggina. And Benevento, who won their match against Crotone.

So what does this mean? Here is the table after Matchday 29:

Even though Cittadella gained a point on the road, they now sit further behind on the table. The nearest playoff spot (8th place Ascoli) is three points adrift. A first round bye is 10 points away, with Brescia and Cremonese occupying those spots.

Nine games are remaining on the calendar, with games still waiting to be played against Perugia, Ascoli, Reggina, Pisa, and Brescia, all of whom are in the top 8. The more dropped points for Cittadella, the longer the gap increases as games run out.

The international break at the end of March gives the Granata a good opportunity to re-group and make their goals clear going into the final stretch of games. Before the pause, two more matchday’s are set before World Cup Qualifiers.

First, Cittadella host Reggina at the Tombolato (Tuesday, March 15th, 1:30pm EST). With Reggina right on our tail, playoff hopes for both teams will have a big say in this match. Then, Cittadella travel to Pisa (Sunday, March 20th, 9am EST) who sit on top of the league as of today.

These next two games will say a lot on the rest of the season, and if Cittadella really has it in them to make a playoff push. For the next two games, four points has to be the minimum. The Reggina game is looking like a must-win situation at home. If Cittadella get the three points on Tuesday, a draw in Pisa would be solid with still seven games remaining.

This upcoming week is a massive one, and it sets the tone going into the international break. Playoff hopes could be revived with two positive results, or can take a dent with any loss.