Udinese find late winner against Lecce to move up to second in Serie A
The entertainment factor had certainly been lacking in recent meetings between the two sides, with only one of the last six matches producing more than two goals. That would become seven after this result, but there were some promising signs of bucking that trend in the opening exchanges here.
Udinese's Christian Kabasele saw his close-range effort saved by Wladimiro Falcone, before Lorenzo Lucca fired wide on the follow-up. Down the other end, Ylber Ramadani’s speculative volley forced a comfortable save by Maduka Okoye, before Patrick Dorgu skewed an attempt wide from a tight angle.
Udinese were gaining some joy down the left-hand side, and came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock when Christian Kabasele’s header cannoned off the bar before Zemura nodded wide on the follow-up from Jesper Karlstrom’s initial delivery.
Kosta Runjaic's men ended the first half strongly and were denied by the woodwork once again when Oier Zarraga's long-range effort took a hefty deflection off Federico Baschirotto before striking the post.
Leece, though, also carried a threat on the break, as Antonino Gallo looked to take matters into his own hands with a left-footed shot from distance which sailed just past the far post to leave the contest finely poised at half-time.
Runjaic freshened up his attack with the introduction of Keinan Davis at the break, and the Englishman almost made an immediate impact when his attempt from inside the box was blocked by Baschirotto from Zemura’s cut-back.
The Zimbabwean had been one of Udinese’s key protagonists going forward, and he opened the scoring as a reward for his endeavour, curling a superb free-kick past a motionless Falcone in the 76th minute.
It was a goal worthy of settling this contest, and probably what the Bianconeri deserved on the balance of play.
The result continues a fine record on home soil for Udinese, who have now won five of their last six competitive games there and sit second in the table, albeit with plenty more games to come this term.
Meanwhile, the Giallorossi failed to add to their measly total of only three league goals this season, which remains the joint-lowest total in Europe’s traditional big-five leagues..
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jordan Zemura (Udinese)