Empoli 2 - 1 Crotone: Empoli move off foot of Serie A by edging out fellow strugglers Crotone

Empoli moved off the bottom of Serie A with a 2-1 home victory over Crotone.

Central defenders Giuseppe Bellusci and Andrea Costa punished Crotone's fallibility at set-pieces to score with firm headers.

Bellusci, on loan from Leeds, met Manuel Pasqual's 31st-minute corner to thunder home Empoli's first goal of the season.

Promoted Crotone were hopeful of their maiden point in Serie A when substitute Mario Sampirisi delivered a deft header in first-half stoppage time.

But Costa profited from Pasqual's 56th-minute free-kick and Crotone, who are now bottom of the table, were reduced to 10 men in the closing stages when Noe Dussenne received a second yellow card.