Lecce 0 : 0 Cesena - Relegation rivals play out stalemate

Lecce and Cesena played out a goalless draw which did little for either side's Serie A survival hopes.

The best chance of the match fell to Lecce's Colombian midfielder Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, who fired wide two minutes into injury time with just Francesco Antonioli to beat.

The Puglia side have now failed to win any of their last five league games and are five points adrift of safety with eight games to go, while Cesena remain 14 adrift at the bottom having last won in Serie A on January 15.

The visitors were the first to threaten as Romanian forward Adrian Mutu had two efforts in the first 10 minutes, with Lecce goalkeeper Massimiliano Benassi saving the first, and the second going well wide of the left-hand post.

Mario Santana's effort from long range whistled just wide for Cesena, before Cuadrado fired a free-kick well over the crossbar.

Cuadrado drew a smart save from Antonioli in the 28th minute with a right-foot shot, while at the other end Dominique Malonga should have done better than head well wide from Gianluca Comotto's cross.

Uruguayan defender Leonardo Miglionico drilled one off-target after getting forward for the hosts and Nenad Tomovic then missed the target for Lecce from inside the six-yard box.

Lecce created a flurry of openings in the final three minutes of the half, as David di Michele was first denied by Antonioli and then aimed one just over the top, before Luis Muriel blasted an effort into the stands.

Cuadrado was the first to go close in the second period with an angled drive which narrowly cleared the crossbar, before Benassi made four decent saves to keep out efforts from Santana, Giuseppe Colucci, Di Michele and Davide Brivio in the space of five minutes.

Cuadrado was just off-target with a right-foot shot midway through the half and Lecce substitute Valeri Bojinov's long-range left-foot effort had to be fielded by Antonioli.

Mutu had Cesena's final opportunity with nine minutes left but his right-foot shot from outside the area could not beat Benassi, before Cuadrado allowed a great opening at the end to slip by.