Cittadella held 0-0 against Ascoli for second time this season

Cittadella drew 0-0 with Ascoli for the second time this season on Saturday afternoon at the Stadio Piercesare Tombolato.

The Granata have now gone five games without defeat and are one point shy of the playoff zone. Ascoli remains in the automatic relegation zone on 33 points after the result.

A game which saw 41 combined fouls from both teams saw Cittadella fail to tally a shot on target in the second half.

“We could’ve been better,” Cittadella head coach Edoardo Gorini said after the match. “We knew this was going to be a typical match and had the early chances gone in, it would’ve been a different game.”

The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock came in the 26th minute, where Ascoli midfielder Patrizio Masini hit the crossbar inside the box. The rebound flashed just wide of the frame of the goal.

The 0-0 draw keeps Cittadella in range of the playoff zone as the Granata close the gap to 8th place Sampdoria by a single point, while Ascoli remain three points from automatic safety. Gorini’s men also stand eight points clear of the relegation play-out zone.

“Obviously everyone wants to win and everyone expects you to beat Ascoli,” Gorini said. “But Ascoli are like Lecco: these teams aren’t weak and will battle. In the second half we created little and we need to work on that.”

Cittadella and Ascoli have five games remaining in the league with still everything to play for. The Granata return next weekend in Bolzano to face Sudtirol, while Ascoli will play Modena at home next Saturday.

“We still need to focus on safety from relegation, we aren’t there yet,” Gorini said. “Let’s save ourselves first and then go from there.”

PHOTO: Paola Garbuio/LaPresse