Home comforts for Verona

Hellas Verona continued their fine home form with a 2-0 victory over Sampdoria on Wednesday night.

Hellas Verona continued their fine home form with a 2-0 victory over Sampdoria on Wednesday night. Juan Gomez opened the scoring in the 51st minute before veteran striker Luca Toni put the game beyond Sampdoria's reach 12 minutes from time. The outcome allowed Hellas to remain perfect at their Marc' Antonio Bentegodi stadium and lifted the promoted outfit to fifth in Serie A. Sampdoria, meanwhile, have dropped to 16th place. Hellas coach Andrea Mandorlini had demanded an immediate response from his players following their 4-2 reverse at Inter Milan last weekend. It was Hellas that had a lively start and could have taken a third-minute lead when Martinho skipped past his marker and crossed the ball into the area but the waiting Gomez could only head over. Two minutes later, Sampdoria goalkeeper Junior Costa was forced to fully stretch to clear Emil Hallfredsson's bullet strike from 30 yards. At the other end, Manolo Gabbiadini warmed the hands of Rafael with a stinging drive which the Verona goalkeeper kept out. Before half-time, Pedro Obiang's 30-yard volley proved an easy save for Rafael. The hosts showed plenty of determination after the re-start and were finally rewarded when Gomez played a one-two with Toni before firing past Costa from the centre of the area. Hellas continued to press forward and doubled their lead when Sampdoria failed to clear a dangerous ball in the area leaving Toni to strike home from 13 yards. Samp missed a great chance to get back in the game five minutes from time when Nicola Pozzi sent Eder's cross just wide of the far post from close range as Hellas held on for the fifth straight win in Verona.