Udinese 3 : 1 Parma - Euro boost for Udinese

Posted Saturday, April 07, 2012 by PA

Udinese boosted their hopes of securing European football next season with a 3-1 win against Parma.

Kwadwo Asamoah scored twice and Antonio di Natale was also on the scoresheet as the home side secured a vital victory at the Stadio Friuli.

Udinese made a bright start and Mehdi Benatia's fourth-minute header forced a good save from Parma goalkeeper Antonio Mirante, but the visitors were also quick to threaten and McDonald Mariga's shot from outside the area on eight minutes was saved by Samir Handanovic.

The Slovenian goalkeeper also saved from Massimo Gobbi before Udinese quickly moved the ball to the other end where Michele Pazienza's long-range effort flew narrowly over the bar.

On 37 minutes Di Natale's header went just wide of the upright, but the home side finally broke the deadlock in the dying seconds of the half when Di Natale set up Asamoah to fire home from the centre of the area.

The game looked over as a contest when Udinese doubled their lead 11 minutes into the second half.

This time Di Natale was the scorer, driving a shot into the bottom corner after being set up by Pablo Armero.

However, Parma refused to throw in the towel and got back into the game with six minutes remaining when Alessandro Lucarelli scored from close range following a corner.

The visitors were unable to create a good chance for an equaliser and Asamoah made sure of the points for Udinese in injury time, the Ghanaian slotting home from close range after Mirante had saved well from Di Natale.