Sicilians in Serie A mission...

Catania cannot be described as perennial Serie A crusaders having spent much of these past few decades playing lower division football in Italy.

This season the Sicilians are back in the top flight and the club is looking to make their stay longer by avoiding the red zone of the standings. So far, Pasquale Marino's men look to be on the right track to achieve their goal.

Last week, at their Angelo Massimino stadium, Catania gave another demonstration of their resilience and determined play as they beat Livorno in dramatic fashion, scoring the goal that mattered in a 3-2 win in stoppage time.

Many rank Livorno a cut above Catania. Even in terms of experience, Livorno have a better pedigree. But, this year, when it comes to willpower Catania are second to none.

Touted in pre-season as prime favourites to go down next May, Catania have taken the Serie A by storm. With 16 points under their belt, Marino's side are still undefeated at home and had two wins (vs Cagliari and Reggina) in their first six away fixtures.

In so doing they have proved to be one of the most refreshing sides to reach the Serie A in recent years. They started with that narrow 1-0 win at Cagliari and kept up the good work ever since.

To prove that their away victory at Cagliari was no fluke, Catania went on to collect some other remarkable scalps including that of Lazio (3-1) on the seventh day. On the sixth day, they played a heroic game against Inter at the San Siro. Catania lost 2-1 after taking an early lead through Giuseppe Mascara.

Marino, a novice to the Serie A, is doing his best to play down the achievements of his modest side. But with 11 games played, he should be satisfied that his team have already picked up almost half the points many think are necessary to ensure survival in Serie A.

Indeed, this is no mean feat for a club with a restricted budget and with most of their players still un-tried and untested at the top level.

Marino admitted that strong teams like Milan and Fiorentina, for instance, still have to play their best football. Although these two giants are lagging behind Catania at the moment, there will be a time when they will thread a winning streak which will propel them to higher places, he told reporters.

Marino, however, does not intend to sit down on his new-found laurels and is already preparing to pull off another major shock next weekend when Catania travel to the capital to play Roma.

"Our position in the standings is a just reward for my players, for their spirit of sacrifice," Marino said after Sunday's victory.

"This is an extraordinary moment for the club but, for us, we are already preparing for the next challenges."

Catania are finding life extremely pleasant in Serie A. The future seems to be rosy for them even though one does not exclude some bumpy rides along the way. However, Catania's current position is a perfect antidote for such hiccups.

Serie A statistics

0 penalties in favour of Torino, Fiorentina and Siena so far this season. In last weekend's fixtures, Reggina were the only team that benefited from a penalty as Rolando Bianchi made no mistake from the spot to give his side a valuable away win over Siena.

1st win for back-to-form Lazio after five winless games. On Sunday, Delio Rossi's side were in terrific form as they trounced crisis-hit Udinese 5-0. It was Lazio's 13th win in 28 Serie A home encounters with Udinese. Sunday's victory was also Lazio's first home league win against Udinese since the narrow 2-1 win of January 19, 2003. For Giovanni Galeone's Udinese this was their third straight defeat and overall a fifth successive match without a win.

2nd home upset of the term for Siena as Mario Beretta's side were floored by Reggina for the first time in four meetings in Tuscany. Rolando Bianchi's second-half goal handed Reggina their first away win of the term. The previous three Serie A meetings at the Artemio Franchi Stadium had all finished goalless. In their first-ever meeting in Serie A, Catania edged Livorno by a last-gasp Giorgio Corona goal to extend their positive streak to five games (three wins and two draws). For Livorno this was their second straight away defeat, following their 1-4 reverse to Inter.

3 players - Da Silva Felipe (Udinese), Federico Cossato (Chievo) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter) - received marching orders last weekend. Current joint-leaders Palermo have improved their point tally over last season by a staggering 11 points. In this regard, Chievo, with 16 points less, have registered the most remarkable decline.

3rd straight league defeat for Milan as they continued to lose further ground in the standings after going down to Roma 1-2. Milan played perhaps their best match this season. Still, it was not enough for them to salvage a draw as Roma went on to conquer the San Siro for the first time in two decades. The Giallorossi are now undefeated in their last five outings (two draws and three straight wins). In a basement encounter at the Marassi, Sampdoria were in emphatic form as they annihilated minnows Chievo 3-0 for their second straight home win (following their 2-0 success against Lazio). The only time that Chievo left Genova with a positive result was on September 25, 2005 (2-1).

4 points in their opening 11 games is a meagre tally for struggling Ascoli. On Sunday, Attilio Tesser's men surrendered to an Antonio Busce goal to go down at home against Empoli for the first time since 1986. Together with Luigi Del Neri's Chievo, Ascoli are still in search of their first win of the term. On Sunday, Ascoli club president Roberto Benigni admitted that, in the wake of such a poor start to the season, it will be very difficult for his team to avoid relegation. On Monday, coach Tesser was sacked. Nedo Sonetti is the new coach.

5th win on the trot for high-flying Palermo as the southerners recovered from a shaky start before beating struggling Torino by three goals. This was the Sicilians' fourth successive home league win over the Granata, who, on their part, have last conquered Palermo's home ground on September 23, 1962 (1-0). Alberto Zaccheroni's Torino are without a win in their last five outings (three draws and two defeats). In an action-packed encounter, Messina and Cagliari shared the spoils in a pulsating 2-2 draw. With this result, Cagliari have extended their unbeaten run to nine games (one win and eight draws) whereas Bruno Giordano's Messina are undefeated in their last three (one win and two successive draws).

32 goals were scored on the 11th day: 21 coming from the hosts and the remaining 11 from the visitors, who managed four wins. Foreigners contributed with eight goals. There were 15 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 273. Neither own goals nor hat-tricks were recorded. Five players - Tommaso Rocchi, Stefano Mauri (both Lazio), Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Francesco Totti (Roma) and Giampaolo Pazzini (Fiorentina) - grabbed a brace each to help their respective sides cruise to significant victories over Udinese, Chievo, Milan and Atalanta respectively. Inter's Argentinian striker Julio Ricardo Cruz was the only player who came on as a substitute and scored. Palermo still possess the most prolific attack in the Serie A with 26 goals whereas Ascoli, with only five goals to their credit, have the poorest scoring record in the division. Messina's Christian Riganò still leads the goalscorers' list with eight goals. He is closely followed by Carvalho Amauri, Eugenio Corini (both Palermo) and Rolando Bianchi (Reggina)... all on the six-goal mark.