Hellas Verona 1 Cagliari 0

Hellas Verona left it late to beat Cagliari 1-0 at the Stadio Bentegodi, with Panagiotis Tachtsidis' goal securing victory in the 89th minute.

Hellas Verona left it late to beat Cagliari 1-0 at the Stadio Bentegodi, with Panagiotis Tachtsidis' goal securing victory in the 89th minute.

Verona could have been celebrating a more comfortable win, having seen a valid goal ruled out in the first half and two shots come back out after hitting the crossbar in the second 45 minutes.

Cagliari also contributed to an entertaining game with chances of their own, but, after putting four past Inter Milan last weekend, they were unable to find one and they paid the price with the Greek's late winner.

Gustavo Campanharo provided a ball which Luca Toni tucked in at the far post in the 25th minute, but the linesman's flag cut short the hosts' celebrations.

The flag may have been intended for Nico Lopez, who was closer to an offside position as he missed the ball in the middle, but Toni, who started his run from behind Campanharo, could not convince the referee to change his mind.

Caglairi's best chances of the first half came in the spell of 60 seconds when Luca Ceppitelli headed wide and Andrea Cossu saw his shot pushed behind by Rafael.

Marco Sau then had a shot saved before Hellas broke with Toni shooting just wide.

The first half concluded with Cossu curling a direct free-kick over the wall, but just inches wide of the left post.

The hosts' misfortune continued in the second half with Campanharo's angled shot saved and Ceppitelli clearing Toni's header off the goal-line.

Bosko Jankovic sent a 25-yard effort against the crossbar before Toni was also denied by the bar with a close-range header.

Cagliari were riding their luck, and it ran out with just a minute left when Tachtsidis pounced on a loose ball 20 yards from goal and drilled an unstoppable shot to the right of Rafael to lift Hellas up into a share of fourth spot in Serie A with Sampdoria.