Bari 0-1 Sampdoria: First Away Win For Blucerchiati Since November Relegates Galletti

Date: 23rd April 2011 at 8:11pm
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Today’s game at the Stadio San Nicola was a must-win for both Bari and Sampdoria – a draw would do neither any good, in the fight to stay in the division. It was Samp who ended victorious in a hotly-contested and entertaining affair, although they needed a rather soft penalty to do so, thereby lifting themselves outside the bottom three and relegating Bari to Serie B.

Despite the hosts being rooted to the bottom of the table, they had the better form going into the fixture, with Sampdoria having lost seven of their last nine, with their last win coming in early February. They started brightly, with the first chance of the game falling to Nicola Pozzi, whose strike was parried away by Jean Francois Gillet.

Another chance fell to Pozzi later in the half, only for him to blaze over the effort from close range. It seemed like the Blucerchiati had opened the account when Zsolt Laczkó bundled in a scrappy goal assisted by Massimo Maccarone, but it was ruled out for an offside.

For all of Doria‘s chances, Bari could have also been in front at the half time whistle, with an early deflected free-kick almost finding its way over Gianluca Curci’s head. The Italian keeper was called upon again when Erik Huseklepp’s stinging effort was angled towards the far post, only for Curci to tip it wide.

In the second half Andrea Poli was the focus of all attention, when he forced Gillet to touch his strike onto the crossbar, and won a penalty when he was tripped in the area by Huseklepp. Nicola Pozzi stepped up and converted just short of the hour mark, his well-placed penalty just sneaking inside Gillet’s right-hand post, with the Frenchman diving in the correct direction.

Bari could, and should, have equalized in the dying minutes, Gergely Rudolf missing his chance after being assisted by Alessandro Gazzi. Poli fell under the spotlight once more in stoppage time, when he spoiled what would have been a momentous day for Samp, after being sent off from the bench following his substitution when he ran onto the pitch to complain about a decision by the referee.

It is three points for Sampdoria which may prove vital in their fight for survival. They created chances but failed to take them – the problem that they have suffered from all season, and relied on a fortunate penalty decision and bad finishing from Bari to gain three points. It wasn’t a convincing display, but the fact they are now out of the drop zone may prove to be a much-needed motivational factor going into the final games of the season.

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