In a raucous atmosphere at Stadio Alberto Picco, Verona - one place and three points behind their hosts coming into the contest - suffered an early setback as Cyril Ngonge was forced off following a robust challenge by Albin Ekdal, with the attacker duly being replaced by Yayah Kallon. The Sierra Leone international looked to make an immediate impact with a curling effort that drifted narrowly wide of Bartłomiej Drągowski’s right-hand post, before team-mate Darko Lazović spurned a presentable close-range opportunity when he should have switched the ball onto his left foot. Despite both sides having roughly equal amounts of possession in the first half, Verona enjoyed marginally better chances as a header from striker Adolfo Gaich missed the target. Nonetheless, Spezia’s top scorer this season, M’Bala Nzola, was left frustrated after taking a poor touch when in space in the box, following Kevin Agudelo’s cross to the Angola international.
Home boss Lorenzo Semplici - who was only appointed on the 23rd of February - will however have been pleased with the way the Aquilotti started the second period. That said, they were struggling to test Simone Perilli, who was making his first appearance in Italy’s top flight. Kallon’s shot just after the hour mark was comfortable for Drągowski and the 21-year-old was soon guilty of wasting another chance as he latched onto Lazović’s through-ball, only to be denied by the alert Pole, who sped off his line to make the save. The sprightly Agudelo then fed Kelvin Amian, but the right-back couldn’t find his bearings, before the unusually quiet Nzola saw his glancing header crash off the woodwork with Perilli beaten.
Zaffaroni made a triple change on 78 minutes in an attempt to force the issue and there was late drama as Emmanuel Gyasi went down in the box under pressure from Perilli and Isak Hein, but the Ligurian penalty shouts were waved away as referee Daniele Doveri dismissed Spezia substitute goalkeeper Federico Marchetti for dissent amidst the confusion. There was still time for Perilli to superbly tip Amian’s whipped strike over the bar, but both sets of players will be wondering what might have been.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kevin Agudelo (Spezia)
