Hellas Verona defeated Cagliari 1-0 on Saturday evening in Serie A at the Stadio Bentegodi.
Both sides had their moments in a competitive first-half and Verona hit the bar twice in the second before a Panagiotis Tachtsidis screamer won it in spectacular fashion at the death.
Cagliari got off to a quick start and came close to opening the scoring in the third minute when Danilo Avelar broke down the left before squaring it to Victor Ibarbo who headed it straight at Rafael.
Ibarbo missed another chance when he went through on goal in the seventh minute but Rafael was there to close down the Colombian and save.
Verona’s hearts were in their mouths in the 24th minute when a long-shot from Lorenzo Crisetig took a deflection that wrong-footed Rafael but the ball narrowly went wide.
Hellas looked to have taken the lead in the 26th minute after a Gustavo Campanharo ball evaded the Cagliari defence and goalkeeper Alessio Cragno before falling to the feet of Toni who had a simple tap-in but the goal was called back for offside.
The Rossoblu should have scored on the half-hour mark after Luca Ceppitelli had a clear header from a corner but the defender nodded it into the ground and wide.
The Mastini looked threatening in the 36th minute after Toni did well to control another diagonal ball from Campanharo but the Cagliari defence poked it away for a corner from which Rafa Marquez missed the target with a flick-on from the near post.
The game became end-to-end as the half-time whistle approached with Sau forcing a good save from Rafael before Toni put his low shot narrowly wide after Nico Lopez drove the ball forward on the counterattack.
Verona enjoyed the first clear-cut chance of the second half in the 53rd minute when Campanharo went through on goal but his powerful shot was too close to Cragno.
Ibarbo almost had a chance to tap-in from inside the six-yard-box after he was on the end of a square ball that fizzed across the area but Alessandro Agostini just got back to clear in the nick of time.
Verona almost scored in spectacular fashion through a long-range missile from Bosko Jankovic but it hit the bar with the goalkeeper watching on helplessly.
The Gialloblu looked the more likely to score with 13 minutes to go and Juanito Gomez forced a save from Cragno after getting onto the end of an Hallfredsson cross.
Verona hit the bar for a second time after Toni rose to get his head on the end of a Jankovic cross but his close-range header couldn’t avoid the woodwork.
Hellas took the lead the lead with two minutes left thanks to an incredible first-time strike from Panagiotis Tachtsidis that the Greek hit on the half-volley from long-range into the far corner of the net.
The Gialloblu were then able to hold and defend a corner to secure all three points.
