Late Galesio Penalty Sinks Ragusa as Avola Win Deepens Serie D Crisis

Ragusa Calcio left Avola empty-handed, beaten 1-0 by a penalty converted by Galesio in stoppage time. The match reports place the kick in either the 93rd or the 94th minute, the discrepancy being one of the few details on which the accounts of the game differ. The award followed a foul on Alfò, brought down in the area during the hosts' final attack. Until that moment, the fixture had appeared destined to finish goalless.

Avola, a newly promoted Serie D side enjoying a strong campaign, pressed with greater conviction, particularly after the interval. Ragusa, coached by Francesco Bianco, set up defensively in the hope of limiting the damage and carrying off at least a point, and the strategy very nearly held. The judgement from Ragusa is that Avola's victory was deserved on the balance of the ninety minutes. After the final whistle, home supporters applauded their own players; the visiting squad went across to salute the travelling fans in the stands.

The defeat leaves Ragusa with two points from six matches and third from bottom of the table, a position described in Ragusa as increasingly alarming. It is a third consecutive loss for Bianco's side, and the club under the ownership of Martone is portrayed as being in a crisis that is worsening week by week. Avola, by contrast, have recorded three successive wins. Viewed from Ragusa, the team now occupies the lower reaches of Girone I.

Expectations had been otherwise. Over the summer there was talk of a squad capable of improving on the previous season's performance. A home defeat to Trapani had already provoked sharp criticism from part of the support, a reaction the club did not welcome, prompting it to look for institutional backing from the municipal administration to dampen the controversy. Among the supporters, a faction is now calling for the return of Gaetano Lucenti, a name that continues to command considerable standing in the Azzurro environment. The assessment from Ragusa is that this group of players is generous and willing to sacrifice, but that it presently lacks the technical and temperamental resources needed to escape an increasingly complicated situation.

Next Sunday Ragusa return home to the Aldo Campo to face Nissa, themselves chasing results and redemption, who drew 1-1 at Igea Virtus. Commentators in Ragusa consider the fixture likely to take on a delicate character, and see in it the potential to become a watershed for the season. The warning attached to that reading is that even a change at the technical helm might not be sufficient to address problems that appear to extend well beyond the field of play.