Hellas Verona defeated Parma 3-2 at the Stadio Bentegodi on Sunday afternoon in Serie A action.
An early goal from Fabrizio Cacciatore gave the Mastini the lead, before Marco Parolo levelled and Antonio Cassano put Parma ahead. However, two penalties from starlet Jorginho in the second half gave the home side the three points in a dramatic encounter.
The home side took the lead after just eight minutes as Cacciatore’s right footed volley off a corner kick left young keeper Pavol Bazja rooted to the spot.
Parma tried to pull things back immediately as Massimo Gobbi’s cross reached Afriyie Acquah, who was unmarked at the far post, but his shot only hit the side net.
The game became more fluent as the Crociati pushed their side forward. Juan Iturbe’s overhead pass found Luca Toni in the box, but the 36-year-old striker failed to score as Bajza rushed out and cleared the ball, preventing a potential one on one chance.
Aleandro Rossi’s floating cross from the right accurately found Amauri but he failed to head it on target, an indication that Parma were piling on the pressure.
Cassano made a pinpoint pass to the left side of the box, where Parolo’s shot hit the post. However, Parolo managed to pull Parma back on level terms only minutes later as he smashed a powerful shot into the net from 25 yards out to make it 1-1.
After Verona’s goalkeeper Rafael saved a long-range effort from Cassano, he failed to stop the Parma striker’s low shot one minute later as the away side took a deserved 2-1 lead.
It seemed that Verona was unable to resist Parma’s attack as Alessandro Luccarelli’s powerful header hit the bar before Felipe’s rebound was cleared off the line by Rafael.
While Parma slowed down their tempo after taking the lead, Verona pushed higher up the pitch in the final ten minutes of the first half as they searched for an equalizer.
At the beginning of the second half Toni’s header went into the net but it was ruled out by the referee as the Italian was judged to have fouled Felipe.
Verona’s pressure paid of in the 60th minute when Toni was brought down in the box by Mattia Cassani to give the home side a penalty. Bajza was able to get a hand on Jorginho’s shot but the effort got past the goalkeeper to level the score at 2-2.
After the goal Verona continue to put their opponents under pressure as they searched for a winner and it paid off.
With only ten minutes remaining in the match, Jorginho was fouled by Marco Marchionni as he dribbled in the box. They youngster scored his second penalty of the match to give the home side the 3-2 advantage.
Parma struggled to fight back in the final minutes as the Verona backline held firm to secure the Mastini their fifth victory of the season.
