Sampdoria defeated Chievo 2-1 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Wednesday evening in Serie A action.
Both sides were looking for their second wins of the campaign, but it was Sampdoria who took all three points in Genoa and maintained their unbeaten start to the season. Goals from defenders Daniele Gastaldello and Alessio Romagnoli put them ahead, as Chievo pulled back a late consolation through Alberto Paloschi.
Sampdoria had the best of the early possession but neither side found their feet at the beginning of the match with several clumsy fouls interrupting play until Stefano Okaka had the first attempt on goal for the Blucerchiati after a quarter of an hour.
The Italian youngster could not hit the target with an angled shot as the ball sailed high of goal.
Chievo struggled to build momentum and had limited opportunities to get forward until Ivan Radovanovic found Isaac Coffie on the edge of the box.
The Ghanaian made poor contact with the ball and the attempted shot missed Emiliano Viviano’s goal by a considerable distance.
Gonzaldo Bergessio nearly opened the scoring for Sampdoria when confusion in the Chievo defence allowed the Argentinian to shoot deep inside the penalty area, however, the Flying Donkey’s defence were lucky to deflect the powerful shot out for a corner.
The 30-year-old looked the most likely to find the net in the first half and again had an excellent opportunity to find the net as Luca Rizzo passed to find the forward, although he did not meet the first time shot clinically resulting in the ball being hit into the arms of Chievo goalkeeper Francesco Bardi.
La Doria mounted pressure on Chievo and came close again with Bergessio heading on target, only for Bardi to come to Chievo’s rescue with a fine save to tip the ball round the post.
Cheivo countered following a Sampdoria free kick with Perpmarim Hetemaj nearly converting on the slide from the looping cross, the shot going wide under pressure from the Doria defence.
However, Sampdoria went into the half time interval the happier of the two sides as Daniele Gastaldello broke the deadlock when his left footed shot found the bottom right corner after Alessio Romagnoli’s overhead cross found the defender in space within the penalty area.
Bergessio continued where he left off after the break and dragged a left footed shot wide of goal but it was Chievo who should have leveled in the opening moments of the second half.
A mistake in the Sampdoria defence allowed Ruben Botta to gather the ball in the six yard box and get a shot away but Viviano did excellently to block the shot low with his legs from close range.
The away side improved significantly in the second half and forced Viviano into several saves, including a long range shot from Valter Birsa, although the Flying Donkeys lacked a clinical presence in front of goal.
Sampdoria doubled their lead late in the second half when Romagnoli headed in from close range after Okaka back-heeled the ball towards him following a corner.
The young defender almost got his second of the match seconds later from close range but could not divert the ball on target.
Cheivo mounted a late offensive to get back into the match and got a late consolation through a superb effort from Alberto Paloschi as he curled the ball into the net past Viviano.
However, Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side will be delighted to maintain their unbeaten start to the season and come away from the encounter with all three points.
