AS Roma 5 : 2 Novara Calcio - Roma maintain top-three pursuit

A dominant Roma brushed aside Serie A strugglers Novara 5-2 in the second half at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday afternoon.

Andrea Caracciolo put the visitors ahead in the 17th minute before Roma's Marquinho equalised eight minutes later.

Daniel Osvaldo put Roma in front before half-time.

Fabio Simplicio then extended the Giallorossi's lead in the 56th minute before Bojan made it 4-1 shortly after the hour mark.

Substitute Takayuki Morimoto cut the gap with 12 minutes remaining but substitute Erik Lamela capped a wonderful afternoon for Luis Enrique's side by scoring his team's fifth at the death.

The outcome has kept Roma in sixth place, four points behind city rivals Lazio, who hold the last Champions League qualifying spot.

Novara, meanwhile, lie second-from-bottom, cut well adrift from safety.

The hosts were looking to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat at AC Milan in the last round and started well as Osvaldo's diagonal effort from 12 yards went wide.

Novara then took a surprise lead when Caracciolo got behind Giuseppe Gemiti's cross and his powerful header beat Roma goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

Novara's joy was shortlived as Roma levelled the score eight minutes later when Marquinho headed Osvaldo's cross past visiting goalkeeper Samir Ujkani.

Roma continued to press forward and their efforts were rewarded when Osvaldo got behind Francesco Totti's dangerous cross and he headed the ball into the back of the net.

Osvaldo should have made it 3-1 before the interval but saw his header from Jose Angel's cross hit the crossbar.

Novara coach Attilio Tesser was forced to make his first substitution after the restart with Alberto Fontana replacing an injured Ujkani in goal.

The home side continued to dominate possession and extended their lead when Novara failed to clear the ball in the area and Simplicio made no mistake and struck a right-footed shot past Fontana.

With the hosts showing no signs of slowing down, Novara defended deeply but still fell further behind in the 61st minute.

Jose Angel fed Bojan in the left side of the box and his diagonal shot beat Fontana.

Novara gave themselves a lifeline when Caracciolo found Morimoto in the six-yard box and his first touch beat Stekelenburg.

But Roma kept up the pressure to the end and Osvaldo set up Lamela in the area and his left-footed strike towards the far post beat Fontana.

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