Roma halt mini-slump with Spezia win
Roma put an end to their worrying
recent run of form in Serie A by beating struggling Spezia 2-0 on Monday and
gaining ground in the race for European football.
Goals from corners in each half from
Chris Smalling and Roger Ibanez put Jose Mourinho's side back on track
following defeat at Bologna and a home hammering at the hands of champions
Inter Milan last weekend.
Roma are up to sixth on 28 points,
two points behind Fiorentina who hold the Europa League qualification spot and
level with Juventus, in seventh after drawing at Venezia on Saturday.
However they are some way from their
true objective of Champions League football as they sit eight points behind
fourth-placed Napoli, and missing some key players failed to convince at the
Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
"I was pleased with the goals
because we spent 25 minutes working on corners yesterday," Mourinho told
Sky Sport Italia.
"I'm also pleased with the
result but I didn't like the way we played. even when we were two goals ahead I
didn't feel like the match was over."
An 11th defeat for Spezia leaves
Thiago Motta's team just two points and one place above the relegation zone,
despite a spirited display which probably deserved at least a goal.
Smalling put Roma ahead with his
first league goal of the season in the sixth minute when, completely unmarked
at a corner, he casually met ountryman Tammy Abraham's headed effort from a
corner with a header of his own that Ivan Provedel had no chance of saving.
Abraham was also involved when the
hosts were unlucky to not double their lead in the 25th minute, the England
international cleverly flicking a pass to Matias Vina who then watched his
goal-bound effort well tipped away by Provedel.
And after Rui Patricio stopped
Arkadiusz Reca from drawing the away side level Abraham was denied his fifth
league goal of the season by the bar in first-half stoppage time.
The former Chelsea striker met
Henrikh Mkhitaryan's fizzing cross with his chest and hit the woodwork for the
seventh time this season before Jordan Veretout's rebound drive was kept out by
a combination of Provedel and Martin Erlic.
However Roma did have their second
10 minutes after the break, following a brief burst of Spezia dominance, when
Ibanez met Veretout's corner with a thumping header amid more sloppy set-piece
defending from Spezia.
Roma were more or less assured of
the points by VAR shortly afterwards, with Rey Manaj's clearly offside goal
ruled out after the on-field officials had initially allowed the Albanian's
close-range strike to stand.
There was time for one more incident though, as talented teen Felix Afena-Gyan rattled home what he thought was Roma's third in added time after obviously handling in the build up and received a second booking while still celebrating with the crowd.