Roma earned a scrappy 2-0 victory in their very first meeting with Frosinone at the Stadio Matusa on Saturday night.
The visitors grabbed the breakthrough just before half-time through Iago Falque and substitute Juan Manuel Iturbe netted in 90th minute after a quick run on the counterattack.
The contrasting sides made a feisty affair out of the opening 45 minutes with 17 fouls coming in that time span alone, 11 of them from the home side. Roma showed plenty of frustration as Falque and Francesco Totti were booked in the process, and Modibo Diakite picked up a late yellow for harassing Wojciech Szczesny before the break.
Roma looked close to rippling the net on more than one occasion, with Falque nearly setting up Edin Dzeko in the 10th minute and Alessandro Florenzi provided a great ball that Seydou Keita failed to head in from close range after a set piece.
Aleksandar Tonev looked dangerous when gifted enough space to shoot, and made a great effort from long range to force Szczesny into a diving save at full stretch just before the half hour mark.
Roma finally got the breakthrough in the 43rd minute when a throw in by Lucas Digne was poorly dealt with by the Gialloazzurri defence and Falque was left free to tap in for his first goal in a Roma shirt from close range.
The home side remained confident after the restart and did well to keep possession in Roma’s side of the pitch.
Daniel Ciofani nearly netted an equaliser from a corner kick but guided his headed effort just wide of the near post with plenty of power early on.
Roberto Stellone’s men were not without desperation as Aleandro Rosi made a quick run inside Giallorossi’s penalty area but simulated a foul while being marked by Keita, which prompted an immediate yellow card.
Juan Manuel Iturbe entered the fray with just 10 minutes remaining and scored a wonderful goal on counterattack after a mazy run and powerful finish in the 90th minute.
The result takes Rudi Garcia’s men into first place with seven points with plenty of teams sitting on six points with a game to be played on Sunday.
