The comparison
The red and whites ended the first round with 2 points less than the white shields but travel with a wider margin over their pursuers
This year’s Vicenza like last year’s Padova. The end of the first round seems to re-propose a film already seen in group A of series C: a leading team on the run alone and undefeated, the direct competitors far behind. From the red and white point of view, however, it is a pleasantly reversed situation: if last year the Lane led by Stefano Vecchi was the fox that frantically chased the fleeing white-shielded hare, now it is Fabio Gallo’s Vicenza that has gained a notable advantage over its pursuers.
Senza ko
There are many similarities between the team that dominated last championship and the one that is making the difference in the current one. First of all, both teams managed to complete the first half of the journey without any setbacks: the scoreboard under “defeats” was and is always stuck at the starting figure, zero; thanks to two almost insurmountable defenses, given that Padova had conceded just 9 goals in 19 games and Lane had now conceded just one more. As regards the scoring phase, however, Andreoletti’s team was able to perform even better, hitting the target 38 times, compared to 33 goals for Gallo’s Vicenza. This is probably the origin of the minimum gap in the partial ranking, which saw Padova gain one more victory (16 instead of 15), thus finding those 2 additional points in their bag at the halfway point (51 to 49).
More margin
However, there is one important aspect in which today’s Vicenza has an advantage over last year’s Padova. Lane, in fact, managed to make even more of a gap behind itself, given that the first pursuer is 12 points away (Lecco at 37); in the middle of the season, however, Vecchi’s red and whites hadn’t given up and managed to stay 8 points behind the leaders. This factor, in perspective, potentially makes the goal of mathematical promotion closer for Lane compared to Padova: already today, in fact, the red and whites would have to lose 4 games in a row to be reached by their closest rivals, provided that Lecco always managed to win in the meantime. Furthermore, while last year there was also a void behind Vicenza (Feralpi, third, were 10 points behind the red and whites), this time the contest for second place is wide open, with Lecco threatened by Brescia (-1) and Cittadella (-5).
Decisive restart
The start of 2026 will be decisive in definitively delivering the season to the Lane or reopening it. Last year, Padova, who had been devastating in the first leg (6 wins out of 6), took a little breather at the start of the return leg (3 wins, 2 draws, 1 knockout: the first of the season which came on the Virtus field in the sixth round). At the beginning of the new year, Vicenza will have to overcome a couple of rather treacherous obstacles such as the revitalized Arzignano (third in the return match at Dal Molin, 18 January) and the following week the Cittadella at Menti. Confirming the unbeaten record in the first month would put a serious threat on promotion.
