Virtus Entella narrowly beat Cittadella 2-1 at the Stadio Comunale on Monday night in Serie B.
Goals from Lorenzo Staiti and Pedro Ferreira gave Entella a 2-0 lead before the visitors pulled back a consolation goal at the death through Daniele Cappelletti.
The hosts were on top from the start as Aniello Cutolo tried his luck from long range but his effort was denied fantastically by Andrea Pierobon.
At the other end Mattia Minesso raced through on goal and whilst one-on-one with the goalkeeper, from a tight angle Andrea Paroni was equal to it.
Entella then took the lead in the 20th minute. Gaetano Masucci put a ball back across goal, which was met by Staiti who swept the ball home.
Searching in vain for the equaliser, Alessandro Sgrigna had two free-kicks which went close for Citta. The first was curled over the bar and the other tipped wide of the bottom corner by Paroni.
The second half was full of opportunities for the visitors. First Sgrigna headed high over the bar and then Nicola Rigoni volleyed from range which just went over.
Despite the pressure from Citta, the home side doubled their lead with ten minutes remaining. Pedro Ferreira controlled the lobbed pass expertly and then volleyed across goal into the bottom corner.
They did get a consolation goal from a corner as Cappelletti headed from the penalty spot which really should have been saved by Paroni but he missed the ball completely.
Entella held on for a win which could well have ended up as a loss but they now see themselves on the horizon of the play-offs.
