Cittadella self destruct in the final seconds, playoffs are in jeopardy.

Just when you thought Cittadella were going to save a point and keep their playoff hopes alive, Ternana blow a massive dent into Cittadella’s promotion ambitions.

It’s been roughly a month since that infamous match against Monza, when Cittadella–up two players for the remaining 30 minutes–conceded a late winner off a defensive mistake against the 9 men of Monza.

Fast forward to today, the Granata are still winless from that match, and have played a similar match to the one against Monza. This time it was Ternana to win in late into stoppage time, hammering a big blow to Cittadella’s playoff quest.

We saw a lot in this game, and straight from the beginning the game was open with both teams looking for an early goal. Cittadella play-maker Enrico Baldini–who’s had a rough patch of games–nearly got the early breakthrough on the counter attack. His near post shot was a diving save by Ternana goalkeeper Antony Iannarilli.

Likewise, Ternana had the chance to go in-front minutes later. Ternana leading goalscorer Alfredo Donnarumma had his shot blocked by Elhan Kastrati, who’s came back from the Albanian national team camp.

There’s no doubt about it: Cittadella had chances to put themselves into good position in the first half. Santiago Visentin had his header denied by Iannarilli, following Amedeo Benedetti’s in-swinging free kick. Ten minutes later, after a long ball sent by Nicola Pavan, forward Giacomo Beretta fought off a Ternana defender. Through on goal against the keeper, Beretta gets it horribly wrong, and shakes his shot wide right. Mirko Antonucci and Alessio Vita, who were open in the box, stood in disbelief.

Through back and forth action, it was the visitors who fired into the lead in the 41st minute, thanks to their reliable guy, Alfredo Donnarumma. Off a quick throw in, Cittadella’s defense was caught sleeping, and Donnarumma capitalized as he dinked it over Kastrati.

Cittadella head coach Edoardo Gorini knew he had to go for the win, and try to score two goals in the second half. Karim Laribi was thrown onto the pitch in hopes to enlighten the midfield, but did not succeed. Mirko Antonucci found Beretta open off a quick giveaway, but Beretta’s shot was once again missed and blocked. It was the second big opportunity to score in the game, and Beretta could not find the net.

Cittadella pushed hard for an equalizing goal, and at this point a draw would’ve been the best result possible. With five minutes to go, Gorini put on 18 year old Primavera star Saliou Thioune, who was making his professional debut. He nearly had a dream start to his professional career, as Thioune threw his body on a Benedetti cross. The ball narrowly missed the youngsters header, and the chance went begging.

As the clock winded down to 90 minutes, Camillo Tavernelli found an opening at the top of the box. With a little help from Pavan with the pass, Tavernelli found the near post, as it just rolled past Iannarilli. Cittadella were level, and now had four minutes to try to find a winner.

Instead, Ternana were the ones to shatter Cittadella hearts. With Gorini urging players forward, a quick counter attack was started by the visitors. As they creeped towards the box, Cittadella were outnumbered and only had three players defending. An open Alfredo Donnarumma made no mistake from six yards out, as the cross pulled Kastrati out of his goal, giving the striker an open net.

Make no mistake out it, a draw wasn’t what any Cittadella player, fan, or coach would’ve wanted. Yet, here we are again after the match, and once again it’s Cittadella who have thrown their points into the fire.

In many ways this match feels a lot like when Monza visited last month: conceded in the last minute off a defensive error, not taking our chances, and not pulling through at the end. In this case against Ternana, it would’ve been a point that would’ve still had our minds on promotion. Now with a last minute loss, it seems like the playoffs are a long shot with six games remaining.