Cagliari win big, Roma plunder, Udinese leave it late & Fiorentina finally net away victory
Cagliari won their fourth match in a row on Wednesday evening to preserve new coach Ivo Pulga’s 100% start. Elsewhere, Roma surrendered another lead, Udinese scored a last-gasp equaliser and Fiorentina registered on the road.
Although the Tuscans pulled a goal back just before half-time, they went down to ten men after Luis Neto was shown a second yellow 14 minutes from the end. Both sides added a further goal apiece in the final few minutes to give Cagliari a comfortable 4-2 victory.
Erik Lamela opened the scoring, before Parma lost Amauri to a suspected broken nose. The striker's replacement, Ishak Belfodil drew the sides level, then turned provider, allowing Marco Parolo to put Parma ahead.
Roma emerged for the second half minus the injured Maarten Stekelenburg, which handed Mauro Goicoechea a Serie A debut. The Uruguayan spilt a shot into the path of Cristian Zaccardo to give the home side a two goal cushion on 65 minutes. Francesco Totti reduced the arrears six minutes later, knocking in a rebound after seeing his penalty saved. Belfodil ensured there was a nervy final five minutes after being sent off for a second bookable offense.
Udinese relied upon trusty veteran Antonio Di Natale to give them a share of the spoils at home to Catania. Toto put the home side ahead from the penalty spot after Nicolas Spolli was adjudged to have tackled Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu unfairly.
Rather than get hung up on another refereeing decision, the Sicilians dug in and equalised from a Lucas Castro volley. Francesco Lodi thought he had won it five minutes from time with a trademark free-kick, but just like he did on Sunday against Roma, Di Natale popped up at the death to have the final say.
Eugenio Corini earned his second victory in four games as Chievo Verona beat Pescara 2-0, edging Giovanni Stroppa ever closer to the chop.
Both goals came in the final 15 minutes. Luciano fired home a penalty on 75 minutes, before Adrian Stoian added a second just two minutes later.
High gusts of wind blew several advertising boards onto the pitch, but thankfully no-one was hurt.
In the final game of the midweek round, Fiorentina earned their first away win of the season with a hard fought 1-0 victory at Genoa.
Manuel Pasqual netted the deciding strike on 14 minutes. The left-back surged forwards to collect Gonzalo Rodriguez's long pass and, after allowing the ball to bounce, chipped it over the onrushing Sebastien Frey into the net.
The result moves the Viola up to fifth, while Genoa sit directly above the relegation places, with a point keeping them above Palermo and Pescara. New coach Luigi Del Neri has now lost his first two games in charge of the Grifone. The former Sampdoria boss will be hoping it's third time lucky when he takes his side to fellow strugglers Siena at the weekend.
