Tanner Tessmann had a strong performance in the heart of Venezia’s midfield on Saturday afternoon, while Andrija Novakovich saw time as a substitute in the team’s nail-biting road win over Ascoli.
Ascoli 0 – 1 Venezia FC
An injury-time, set-piece goal by Venezia on their trip to Ascoli was the only thing separating the two teams, with both Tessmann and Novakovich seeing significant time in the important victory.
The former FC Dallas player Tessmann lined up in the center of Paolo Vanoli’s five-man midfield, and stayed in the thick of the action throughout the 90 minutes. He had 57 touches, completed 74% of his 35 pass attempts, created one chance, won four out of six tackles, eight of 15 duels, and created one chance.
Novakovich had 20 total touches in his 30 minutes on the field, completing three out of nine passes, taking a pair of shots, winning seven out of ten duels, successful completing his only attempted dribble, drawing three fouls, while earning his third yellow card of the season.
Gianluca Busio is still recovering from an injury and didn’t make an appearance.
Ascoli held the upper hand for most of the game, maintaining possession 54% of the time and outshooting their Venetian guests by a 17-13 margin, however a strong second half ultimately won the game for the visitors.
Novakovich took the field just past the hour in place of Finnish legend Joel Pohjanpalo, and helped to apply late pressure.
In the 73rd minute, he headed a cross from Tessmann high and wide to the right, then his header in the 81st off of another cross by Denis Cheryshev was just wide to the left.
However, a deep, 91st-minute free kick from the left flank by the Russian veteran Cheryshev would prove to be the catalyst for the victory, as it landed just beyond the onrushing line of attackers an defenders at the fear post, where Andrea Carboni was free to slip it past keeper Nicola Leali.
While the win doesn’t lift Venezia out of the relegation places, the three points does bring them to the top relegation play-off spot, where they only trail 15th-place Perugia by goal differential.
They start their final, and critical eight-game stretch to secure safety following the international break, with a home game against tenth-place Como on April 1.
Notes
Sergiño Dest was nowhere to be found on Saturday night for AC Milan’s 3-1 road loss at Udinese.
