Udinese fight back to defeat lowly Monza
Out of a drab and largely forgettable opening half an hour came a genuinely entertaining match, with the home side grabbing the lead when Andrea Colpani lashed home from close range.
Searching for a first ever Serie A win, the Brianzoli’s dreams were cut short, as three minutes later Udinese produced the move of the match to draw level.
Sandi Lovric bypassed the Monza defence with a inch-perfect through ball, allowing marauding centre-back Rodrigo Becao to cut the ball back to Beto, who was left with a simple close-range finish.
From then on, only chaos remained in the first half. Gerard Deulofeu dragged his shot wide when he should have done better from 12 yards out, before the Spaniard was denied by a goal-saving Samuele Birindelli challenge.
Moments later, Gianluca Caprari was neatly played in, but squandered his chance by shooting straight at the legs of Udinese goalkeeper Marco Silvestri.
Udinese started the second half brightly, with the incessant pace and trickery from the likes of Deulofeu, Jean-Victor Makengo, and Udogie proving an ever-present threat.
Lovric came the closest to turning that domination into goals, but he was denied by excellent defending from Salvatore Molina after being played through by a delicate backheel from Deulofeu
Hoping to change the flow of the game, Giovanni Stroppa introduced talisman signing Matteo Pessina on the hour mark, but it was Udogie that found the winning goal for Udinese.
The teenager on loan from Spurs started the move with a throw-in and, after neat link up play with substitutes Isaac Success and Ilija Nestorovski, was able to poke home and leave Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani’s ambitious project rock bottom of Serie A
Flashscore Man of the Match: Destiny Udogie (Udinese)