Andrija Novakovich was the hero in a wild eight-goal thriller for Frosinone, nailing a spot kick deep into injury time to secure an important away draw at Ternana in Monday’s Serie B action.
Ternana 4 – 4 Frosinone
The American returned to Frosinone’s roster after a two-game absence due to a minor injury, and made the most of his half-hour of regulation plus a mountain of injury time.
Aside from netting his third goal of the season, he completed all of his seven pass attempts, and took a pair of shots, with his last saving a point for the visitors.
Marcus Rohdén put Frosinone ahead after ten minutes with a clever back-heel flick from four yards out, but Mattia Proietti pulled Ternana even 11 minutes later, threading the needle with his angled header from just beyond the left upright.
The teams traded own-goals in the 27th and 37th minutes, first with Frosinone keeper Stefano Minelli falling victim to an attempted clearance from one of his defenders that hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced in off his feet, and then Ternana’s Luka Bogdan deflecting a corner into his own net, knotting the game at two apiece.
Ternana took the lead two minutes after the break, after Antonio Palumbo took advantage of loose defending, storming ahead from the midfield and striking his low shot past Minelli.
Novakovich entered the game just past the hour mark as a part of a tactical double-switch, and Frosinone quickly equalized three minutes later with Federico Gatti doing spectacular work to control a pass from Alessio Zerbin to near the spot, make his turn and angle his shot just beyond the keeper’s fingertips to the lower left corner.
The action was far from over, and Ternana looked to have scored the 4-3 winner in the 77th minute when late substitute Stefano Pettinari broke free on the right and chipped his shot over the lunging Minelli and inside the far post.
However, in the sixth minute of added time, Frosinone were delighted when Anthony Partipilo needlessly tripped up Alessio Tribuzzi just inside the area following a corner. Novakovich was selected to take the spot kick, and coolly struck his shot to the right, above the grasp of Antony Iannarilli to secure the point.
The result leaves Frosinone in the final playoff spot at eighth place, with a three-point gap over Perugia and three games left to protect their narrow lead. They return to action on Monday when they host third-place Monza.
Notes
Anthony Fontana is still awaiting his Serie B debut, watching the duration of Ascoli’s 1-0 away win at Parma from the bench. Ascoli have three games left in the regular season, beginning with a home game against Cittadella in one week, before likely competing in the promotion playoff.
