Cagliari 2 : 1 Novara - Ribiero and Larrivey seal Cagliari win
Posted Saturday, September 17, 2011 by PA
Cagliari edged a tight encounter with Novara 2-1 at the Stadio Sant Elia with goals from Thiago Ribeiro and Joaquin Larrivey taking the Sardinians to the top of Serie A, at least for a night.
Ribeiro's first goal in Serie A opened the scoring in the 38th minute and Larrivey added the second four minutes from time.
A consolation effort from Takayuki Morimoto just before the final whistle was not enough to deny Cagliari their second 2-1 win in succession as they rose to the top of the pile ahead of the rest of the weekend's matches in Serie A.
Cagliari's chairman Massimo Cellino invited his club's fans to arrive wearing the colour pink to defy a superstition fearing bad luck on the 17th day of the month, and with a large proportion of the home fans adhering to his desire, that may well have made the difference.
Certainly there was very little else between the two sides in a slow-moving, low-quality match.
The home side did at least have the merit of creating the greater number of chances in the first half with Davide Biondini denied at point-blank range by Samir Ujkani in the 11th minute.
Ujkani then did well to push Pisano's far-post header away from goal in the 23rd minute, but he could do nothing to prevent Ribeiro from putting the hosts in front in the 38th minute.
Alessandro Agostini's left-wing cross was flicked on at the near post by Nene and Ribeiro scored his first goal in Italian football, and one which could turn out to be his easiest too.
Five minutes later, Cagliari had a goal disallowed when Radja Nainggolan's 25-yard shot passed through the legs of Ribeiro on its way into the bottom corner, but the Cagliari striker was in an offside position and interfering with play.
Novara started the second half brightly, but their enthusiasm did not last long.
Nene could have made it two for Cagliari in the 71st minute, but he this time shot against Ujkani's thigh from a tight angle.
Cagliari did get a second in the 86th minute when Daniele Conti's shot was intentionally deflected into the corner by Larrivey.
An unintentional deflection off Davide Astori saw Morimoto's shot loop over Agazzi and into the back of the net for Novara two minutes later.
However, unlike a week ago when Novara recovered from two goals down to draw with Chievo, there was no equaliser this time.
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