“It was nice of Daniele [Paponi] to dedicate his goal to me” Paolo Castellini told the official site, “but it is more a sign of our friendship as we are always together; for lunch and dinner for example. I am pleased for the dedication but more-so for the three points gained.”

“Many people have been talking about how important and decisive my play down the flank and crossing has been, however, with the likes of Lucarelli, Paloschi and Paponi in the area, it’s not unlikely for them not to make use of a cross whether it be a good one or a bad one; such is their quality. It is also true that we have scored goals from crosses and won points that perhaps we did not deserve, as against Ascoli. However, this evens out as we have drawn many games that our play deserved a win from.”

“If we could win every game 1-0 and play badly I would accept it in a heartbeat. The ball was extremely fast on the wet surface and the conditions were awful. Added onto this I feel Ascoli must be given credit; it was not just us playing badly but them playing in a well-organized manner. We are now for sure in better physical condition than a month ago and we can take a lot of lessons from this match. We won three points yet we can play very much better. There is no hiding the fact that these types of games are the most satisfying to win.”

“The Livorno game this weekend will be a very difficult one for us. Yes it may be easier than it was against Ascoli for us to play as Livorno will play open attacking football as opposed to packing thier defence, but they have one of the most superior squads in the divison. They will try to play the game in their way and will go for the three points, not just the one.”

“As I said, the Ascoli match was a very tough 90 minutes. But this just adds to our understanding of just how hard this league is and how different it is to the top flight. It was a great feat to come out with a victory and we are mentally ready to take on anything Serie B throws at us. It is shaping up to be a really entertaining league this season but we are certainly not going to get carried away. We will stay focused with the utmost humility because nothing other than full concentration will enable us to succeed.”

“I try to keep my eyes off the league standings. All I know is that we are 3 points better off, Empoli and Grosseto have a top-of-the-table clash during the week, and we have a massive game against Livorno at the weekend; the latter being the only thing that is on our minds.”

Pete