Cremonese turned out in a unique festive kit for their clash with Sampdoria before Christmas. Giovanni Stroppa’s men looked more Christmas pudding than top of the tree though, as they laboured to a 1-1 draw.

There was little cheer around the club in the build up to December 25th, after a series of damaging results saw them lose touch with the race for the two automatic promotion spots in Serie B.

A month to forget had seen them lose 2-0 to Reggiana, before disappointing draws with lowly Cittadella and struggling Sampdoria saw the wheels fall off somewhat.

Boxing Day provided the catalyst for a change in fortune. The Grigiorossi kept the league’s top scorer Cristian Shpendi quiet as they secured an important 1-0 win away at Cesena, moving them to fourth and 11 points off the second automatic spot.

“Today is a nice building block that we bring home from a Cesena team that was among those who had scored the most points at home,” Stroppa told reporters after the win.

“We had the technical dominance, even if we had a bit of difficulty with the vertical balls. We could have also scored the second goal.”

Their bid to reconstruct their promotion bid continues against a Brescia team languishing in mid-table obscurity.

Pierpaolo Bisoli’s side threw up a Christmas cracker on Boxing Day as they drew 3-3 with Modena, but it stretched their winless run into a seventh game as they flirt with being pulled into a relegation fight.

The Biancazzurri are in danger of earning the tag of draw specialists with four in their last five matches, and the foundations of a strong start to the season are beginning to crumble away. They have already switched head coach as the tumultuous style of ownership preferred by Massimo Celino continues to endure.

Despite that, and the deflation of conceding a late equaliser on Boxing Day, Bisoli is adamant his side are on the right track ahead of facing Cremonese.

“The road is the right one,” he told reporters. “Modena is a very difficult opponent. We also have three, four players at 30 per cent. We wait patiently. When they have the best condition, we will see it in other games. The fans will understand.”