Torino dispatched a lacklustre Pescara 2-0 at the Stadio Adriatico on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
Mario Santana and Alessio Cerci scored for the Granata in the first half as Christian Bergodi’s men struggled to contain their opponent. A bad tempered match finished with Pescara going down to 10 men as Vladimir Weiss was sent off for two bookable offences. Bergodi was also given his marching orders as the Delfini had no answer to the away side’s dominance.
The first 45 minutes was all one way traffic in favour of Torino. In under five minutes, Santana found himself alone in front of Mattia Perin and had the simple job of putting his shot into the net. The impressive Cerci whipped in his cross from the right and as the Pescara defence stepped up looking for a risky offside, Santana held his run and was able to score. Replays showed that the Granata player was perhaps just onside.
Cerci and Danilo D’Ambrosio dominated the right of the pitch and a cross by the full back should have been better exploited by Riccardo Meggiorini. D’Ambrosio had his own effort on goal to double the lead but his header missed by a whisker. It took 25 minutes for Pescara to finally test the Torino defence but Vladimir Weiss’s attempt from outside the box went wide. However this was as close as the home side would come to troubling Jean Francois Gillet in the Torino goal
On 38 minutes, Cerci’s free kick hit the wall and from the rebound his second effort was saved by Perin. But, 2 minutes later the ex-Roma winger eventually got Torino’s second after a move with Meggiorini put him through on the keeper and he made no mistake in slotting the ball into the net. The 2-0 scoreline was no more than Torino deserved as referee, Paolo Mazzoleni, blew for half time.
Pescara coach Christian Bergodi made a double substitution as the teams filed back out for the second period, with Elvis Abbruscato and Emmanuel Cascione replacing Jonathas and Matti Nielsen. The change seemed to jolt his side into life as Pescara dominated early possession. Birkir Bjarnason especially looked a danger and had a good left foot effort after only eight minutes. The Icelandic player should have scored moments later when a corner ball found itself at his feet only five yards out. But somehow his shot was hoofed off the line by the stretched out boot of keeper Gillet.
Weiss was then booked for a suspicious dive in the area as he looked for an unlikely penalty, but failed to fool the referee. On 75 minutes, Torino new boy Paulo Barreto was replaced by Gianluca Sansone. Seconds after, Abbruscato cleverly spun and shot in the area putting his attempt just wide of the foot of the post. Pescara kept up the pressure as a header by substitute Ante Vukusic was well held by Gillet. However, on 81 minutes Weiss was sent off for a second yellow card for again going down without being fouled by any opponent. Coach Bergodi was also sent to the stands for his vociferous complaints aimed at the official.
Tempers began to flare as Francesco Modesto was booked soon after for a late challenge, as the yellow card count reached six. A minute from time, Meggiorini almost hit a third for his team, his curling effort hitting the post with Perin a mere spectator.
Giampiero Ventura’s decision to sit back and defend the first half lead worked perfectly as he frustrated his opponent in the second period of the match and deservedly took the three points back to Turin.
