Bologna 1 - 0 Palermo - Paponi the hero for Bologna

Bologna left it late to deservedly beat Palermo 1-0 at the Stadio Dell'Ara and heap further pressure on Rosaneri coach Delio Rossi.

A red card for Santiago Garcia in the 57th minute complicated matters for the Sicilians, but they had been second-best even with 11 men against 11 and Daniele Paponi's last-minute goal was the least the home side deserved.

It was enough to lift the Rossoblu 10 points clear of the Serie A relegation zone and increase the pressure on Rossi, who was already in the bad books of his club's president Maurizio Zamparini.

Zamparini has been critical of the team's defence in recent games, but he will now have something more to complain about.

In addition to Zamparini's inevitable complaints about the Palermo back line, he is unlikely to be happy with Rossi's decision to leave Fabrizio Miccoli on the bench for 90 minutes.

Abel Hernandez took his place in the attack, but never posed a threat to Emiliano Viviano in the Bologna goal.

Javier Pastore did all he could to create something with two shots in the first 20 minutes, but apart from that the Sicilians were completely outplayed.

Diego Perez should have put Bologna in front in the 40th minute when he received Marco Di Vaio's free-kick at the far post, but he scooped the ball over an open goal from just four yards out.

Salvatore Sirigu then made a good save to deny Riccardo Meggiorini in first-half stoppage time.

Palermo's hopes of getting something out of the game were dented when Garcia was shown a second yellow card in the 57th minute.

It then seemed only a question of when rather than whether Bologna would score.

Gaston Ramirez headed into the side-netting after an hour before Di Vaio headed over the crossbar shortly afterwards.

Bologna had to wait until the last minute to finally decide the game with substitute Paponi rising above Nocerino to head in a goal which could prove to be a costly one for Rossi.