Cittadella draws Carrarese, stays out of relegation zone

Cittadella held Carrarese to a goalless draw at the Stadio Piercesare Tombolato, ending a five-game losing streak at home and remaining outside the relegation zones.

Both sides struggled to find any attacking threat, both tallying one shot on target each throughout the match. The draw is Cittadella’s first clean sheet at home since Dec. 15.

“It was a difficult game before it even started because points are burning,” Granata head coach Alessandro Dal Canto said in his postgame press conference. “The game was balanced, we have to live with this. I said it last week: from here until the end, if we get some clean sheets, we have a chance of winning. We’ll start from here.”

Carrarese nearly took the lead in the 18th minute when Tommaso Milanese dribbled dangerously inside the box. However, the striker’s shot failed to hit the target as it sailed over the bar.

The Granata created 0.12 expected goals (xG) in the opening half, while the visitors mustered 0.28 xG as both sides went into halftime scoreless.

“We knew it was going to be a bad match and we faced a grumpy team,” Dal Canto said. “We knew it was going to be different compared to the game against Cremonese, now we’ll wait until Sunday to optimize what came out during the game.”

Perhaps Cittadella’s best opportunity to score came seconds following the halftime break. Simone Tronchin’s shot seemed to be going wide, but Simone Rabbi redirected it toward goal, only for his effort to bounce off the post.

But the visitors created three opportunities of their own inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Two of them came from Milanese: first steering a shot wide from the edge of the box, then two minutes later hitting the side netting from a narrow angle.

Carrarese found another chance through midfielder Manuel Cicconi, whose header needed to be pushed over the bar by Elhan Kastrati.

“Some chances we made were from deep balls and second balls,” Dal Canto said. “We need to do something more in the dribbling phase because the moment requires it.”

Second half substitute Davide Diaw–making his home debut after re-signing for Cittadella in January–could’ve won it for the Granata inside stoppage time as he found space at the top of the box. However, the striker’s quick shot fired over the bar.

The draw, paired with other results in the league, keeps Cittadella in 15th place and one point above the relegation play-out zone with six games remaining.

“This season we’ve shown some weakness in managing some moments, but not through negligence or lack of hunger,” Dal Canto said. “It’s been a while since we’ve won a six-pointer at home, today’s game lived on one moment. The team did today what they had to, it would have been better to win but we need to go again.”

Dal Canto’s men return next weekend for another six-pointer, this time in Genova as the Granata face Sampdoria.

“We need to get points home or away, it doesn’t matter,” he said.

TOP PHOTO: Massimo Felicetti / A.S. Cittadella