Serie A | Pisa 0-1 Parma: Nzola headloss at costly defeat

Parma are up to 14th place in the Serie A table after to a valuable 1-0 victory away against the relegation-threatened Pisa, which came thanks to a first-half penalty from Adrian Benedyczak at the Arena Garibaldi on Monday afternoon.

Alberto Gilardino made just one change to his side following last weekend’s 2-0 defeat by Inter, while Carlos Cuesta made wholesale changes after a 2-1 defeat by Bologna in the Coppa Italia on Thursday evening. 

Both sides registered shots on target in the first half: Benedyczak drawing a save out of Simone Scuffet from the right corner of the six-yard box with the first attempt of the game. Idrissa Toure also tested Edoardo Corvi from a header in a similar position down at the other end. 

Sascha Britschgi lined up a powerful strike from 25 yards out towards the end of the first period. It took a huge deflection and drew an impressive save out of Scuffet, but replays showed that that deflection was in fact a handball from Pisa’s Antonio Caracciolo and a penalty was subsequently given. 

Benedyczak stepped up and dispatched into the bottom right corner of the net for 1-0. 

The visitors almost doubled their advantage in the 82nd minute when Emmanuele Valeri’s cross in from the left flank flashed across the face of goal. 

It originally looked like Enrico Delprato got a touch on the delivery, but it was in fact a massively important flick from the defending Henrik Meister, who steered the cross away from Oliver Sorensen at the back-post. Incorrectly, a goal kick was awarded instead of a corner. 

The hosts came one closer to equalising in the 88th minute, when Ebenezer Akinsamiro wriggled his way down the left and supplied a perfect delivery into the middle of the area. M’bala Nzola was waiting in the middle, timed his head well, but saw it deflected over the crossbar for a corner, which ultimately came to nothing.

Corvi was then forced into a big save to deny another Nzola header from hitting the back of the net in the following Pisa attack.

Into injury time and with just over a minute remaining, Nzola’s frustrations boiled over as he kicked out at Mandela Keita. It was obvious that he made no attempt to win the ball, he was shown an immediate red card and did not make any protests before running swiftly down the tunnel.