Cittadella comeback falls short in 1-2 defeat to Parma.

Cittadella lost their fourth game in a row on Saturday as Parma came away victorious 1-2 at the Stadio Piercesare Tombolato.

The Granata had never beaten Parma in club history entering the weekend, and had a tall task against the league leaders under the rain on Saturday afternoon. Cittadella now falls to 7th place in Serie B following the 1-2 defeat, while Parma sores to a six point advantage in 1st place.

Cittadella head coach Edoardo Gorini praised his players following the match despite another loss.

“The guys have everything,” Gorini said after the match. “They did everything that we prepared for.”

“Parma is a very strong team and they were everything that was expected, but we played our game and deserved at least a draw.”

Parma took the lead inside eight minutes when Adrian Bernabe stuck his shot in the corner after an open look at the top of the box. The Spanish midfielder opened the scoring early on for the visitors to net his sixth goal of the season.

Fabbio Pecchia’s side doubled its advantage in the 38th minute when midfielder Hernani fired home a volley past Elhan Kastrati. Polish midfielder Adrian Benedyczak found the Brazilian in the box to get his second assist of the game for Parma.

With the last kick of the first half, Cittadella responded after Stefano Negro scored his first goal of his Serie B career. Following a flicked-on header, Alessio Vita fired in a cross which was met by the defender in front of goal.

Cittadella had held Parma to only two shots on target in the first half, however those two shots turned into goals for I Crociati. In the second half, Cittadella outshot the visitors 15-10 but failed to find the net.

“When you get zero points even with these good performances, it means something went wrong,” Gorini said. “We could’ve done better.”

The Granata‘s best chance of the second half came in the 69th minute, when top scorer Luca Pandolfi found space in the box following physical play from Filippo Pittarello. The striker’s shot was tame and only found the arms of Parma goalkeeper Leandro Chichizola.

Second half substitute Domenico Frare almost scored from another big chance for Cittadella in stoppage time, but the center back’s shot was scuffed following frantic action inside the penalty box.

Cittadella falls to four games without any points, but still remains four points clear of the playoff line. Gorini’s side will hope to end the poor run of form next weekend against Spezia at the Stadio Alberto Picco.

“The game today that we played made me satisfied,” Gorini said. “The only thing that gave me a bitter taste in my mouth was the result.”

PHOTO: Paola Garbuio/LaPresse