Hellas Verona beat Lega Pro side Pavia 1-0 at the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi on a misty Wednesday night as new coach Luig Delneri won his first game in charge.
After an uneventful first half and second half in which neither side could break the deadlock, the Gialloblu found the winner in stoppage time through substitute Claudio Winck.
However, it was Pavia who started the game in a stronger fashion. Right-back Luca Ghiringhelli stormed up the right wing and slid the ball back to midfielder Tomasso Bellazini, who forced goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini into a fine save.
The Mastini responded five minutes later as Luca Toni flicked a corner on at the near post, but his header dribbled into the side netting.
For the rest of the half Lega Pro side Pavia held their own in what was a rather scrappy match with few chances.
The second-half continued in similar fashion as the first 20 minutes went by without a single chance of note.
In the 73rd minute Pavia were growing in confidence and burst forward with the ball eventually finding Andrea Ferretti but he could only smash his shot wide of Gollini’s goal.
Four minutes later Hellas Verona came to life. Lubomir Tupta drove down the left wing and delivered a sumptuous cross for Toni, but the former Italian international placed his header straight at Davide Facchin, who saved expertly.
The Mastini did finally find a winner in stoppage time. Emil Hallfredsson’s cross was poorly cleared by the Pavia defender and the ball fell to Claudio Winck, who fired past Facchin to send Hellas Verona through to the next round where thy face Napoli.
