Ascoli 1 - 1 Udinese

Ascoli v Udinese: Preview

Updated: October 25, 2005, 6:05 PM UK

ANCONA, October 25 (Serie A) - Ancona's Del Conero stadium will be the venue as Ascoli look to keep their recent revival going against Udinese on Wednesday night.

The Ducali side must hold their next two home games behind closed doors following an incident in their previous home match against Sampdoria in which a Samp fan was hurt by a flare fired by an Ascoli supporter.

Being forced to play away from home is likely to be a real blow to Ascoli as they have won their last two leagues matches at their Del Duco stadium.

But his side's second-half fightback in last weekend's 1-1 draw at Messina is something for Ascoli coach Marco Giampaolo to be positive about.

Ascoli were well below-par in the opening period but snatched a last-gasp equaliser to increase their unbeaten run to three games.

"Last Saturday at Messina we took a golden point which will be important in trying to avoid relegation, but now we most think about Udinese,'' said Giampaolo, whose side are 13th in the standings on 10 points.

"We must improve on our first 45-minute display,'' he added.

"Against Messina we only played in the second half, to beat our next opponent we must play well for 90 minutes.''

Despite their good run of late, Ascoli have only managed to win two of their fixtures so far this campaign, scoring nine goals and conceding nine.

They have become draw masters, with four of their eight results coming out level.

Ascoli will be without left-back Maurizio Domizzi, who will miss the clash after being sent-off for a second bookable offence at Messina on Saturday, but welcome back defender Vittorio Tosto.

Goalkeeper Carlo Zotti, plus strikers Corrado Colombo and Fabio Quagliarella, will also miss out on the action with respective injury problems.

Udinese head for Ancona also struggling with injuries following their 1-0 home defeat against Internazionale last Sunday.

Bianconeri coach Serse Cosmi will be without five players - Chris Obodo, Mirko Pieri, Cesare Natali, Paulo Barreto and Fernando Tissone - for the meeting.

Julio Cruz fired Inter's winner on Sunday in a performance which less than pleased Cosmi, who wants his players to prove their worth when they go head to head with Ascoli, who are two places below them in the rankings.

"Against Inter we played our worst game of this championship. Now I don't feel like speaking to my players at present, I just want to see a quick response from them starting from Wednesday's game at Ascoli,'' Cosmi said.

The good news for Cosmi, whose side finished fourth in Serie A last season, is that midfielder Jose Vidigal is available for selection again after missing the last match through suspension.