Although this match marked the first H2H since 1989, there was little to get excited about in the opening 15 minutes, with Pisa dragging Como down to their pitiful level. Matteo Tramoni’s effort five minutes later was a whisker away from giving their hosts only their second goal at home in Serie A this season, and that near miss seemed to galvanise Pisa.
Nico Paz’s industry saw him begin to engineer some half-chances for the visitors, but nothing more as the half hour approached.
During the closing stages of the first half, Como upped the tempo, with Lucas de Cunha powering forward on multiple occasions to provide an extra attacking threat.
A third shot at goal before half-time from teammate Paz was the most from any player on show, but the Spanish-Argentine’s wayward endeavours – alongside the complete lack of attacking intent from Pisa – meant that both sides went in level at the break.
One of Gabriele Piccinini’s two on-target shots for Pisa at the start of the second half required a strong hand from Como keeper Jean Butez, whilst the hosts’ backs-against-the-wall defensive effort continued to frustrate the visitors.
Yet, a team under such pressure can only survive to a finite extent, and that was proven on 67’, when Maximo Perrone found space and drilled home a low left-footed shot from outside the box, which Adrian Semper had no chance of getting to.
As the hosts pushed forward for an equaliser, they were caught by a sucker punch that sealed the result, with Tasos Douvikas wrong-footing Semper after a superb move.
Pisa looked as though they had forged a route back into the game, when they won a penalty after a long review, following a foul on Mehdi Leris inside the box. However, a poor effort from M’Bala Nzola was easily saved by Butez.
Douvikas was then pulled back to give Como an injury-time penalty of their own, and the Greek stepped up and sent Semper the wrong way.
The result means that Como have provisionally leapfrogged Roma into fifth place in the Serie A table, while keeping an eighth clean sheet in the process. As for Pisa, they remain second from bottom and level on points with basement boys Verona, who’ve played two games less.
