Siena must bounce back - Sannino

Siena coach Giuseppe Sannino has urged his players to put Wednesday's defeat to Inter Milan behind them and focus on Sunday's game against Bologna.

The Tuscan outfit had taken seven of a possible nine in their previous three games before falling 2-1 at the San Siro on Wednesday.

The result left Siena in 13th place, five points clear of the drop zone with six games left to play.

"To give away a goal with 10 minutes remaining is disappointing considering the great performance my players displayed against Inter," Sannino said. "But we cannot let this loss bring us down.

"There are six games remaining and we have yet to reach our aim, which is to defend our Serie A status.

"We need to have the same determination and character we showed against Inter in order to beat Bologna."

Siena will have to overcome the absence of goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo, who was sent off against Inter and will serve the first of a two-match ban on Sunday. Zeljko Brkic will take his place.

Rivals Bologna are one place and one point clear of Siena after Thursday's 1-0 triumph over Cagliari, courtesy of Alessandro Diamanti's winner.

That result was Bologna's first win in their last five games.

"At this stage of the campaign, victories are worth gold," Bologna goalkeeper Jean Francois Gillet said. "We knew that we had to take a win considering (18th-placed) Lecce are not slowing down.

"Now we face a difficult game against Siena, a team that like us is fighting to avoid the drop."

Bologna will be bolstered by the return of captain Marco Di Vaio from suspension. The Italian forward has scored 10 goals in 31 league appearances so far.