Naples offered, as often happened when they play away from home, a bad
performance, but at Perugia they also found a referee playing below par and so
they lost their first game of the season.

Reja sent out the team with Briotti, resting Romito, to permit Maldonado to
return to perform his more natural central role.

Naples started well and produced a good move after fifteen minutes when Grava
started a fine move only to find Pią unprepared. Naples continued to play their
game, with a slow build up involving every player, but in the 26th minute
Perugia in their first attack went into the lead. Arcadio crossed the ball into
the centre for Cellini who failed to control the ball, an error that actually
permitted him to evade the tackle from Giubilato whose error was severely
punished, as Cellini drove the ball passed Iezzo who had no chance to block the
shot.

The game was not free flowing because of the continuous stream of fouls in the
centre of the pitch by both sets of players, made worse by the attitude of the
referee who seemed intent on letting all the fouls go unpunished except for the
most minor fouls caused by Naples, as shown by the booking for Pią, Briotti and
Grava.

In the 13th minute of the second half Pią was clearly held by Accursi in the
penalty area, Celi waved play on. Ten minutes later, again Pią was brought down
and again no penalty was given. In the 36th minute of the second half, Pinzan
accomplished a miracle by blocking the well placed free kick from Fontan. In
the 43rd minute, Fontana missed a good opportunity to score but he headed wide
from close range. In the 48th minute came the biggest error possible from Celi:
Monaco fouled Pią and again Celi waved play on. The game, needless to say,
ended in jubilation for the home team as they celebrated as if they had already
won the championship. Naples lost their first game of the season, a bad game,
played below form and marked by unjustified errors from the referee.

Articolo di Antonio Gaito
Traduzione di Roland Whittaker