Torino too good for Pescara

Pescara remain firmly ensconced in a Serie A relegation battle after losing 2-0 at home to Torino.

Pescara remain firmly ensconced in a Serie A relegation battle after losing 2-0 at home to Torino. The visitors took the lead after just four minutes through Mario Santana and doubled their advantage shortly before the interval when Alessio Cerci punished some slack home marking. The win lifted Torino to 11th in the table, but Pescara - who ended the game with 10 men after Vladimir Weiss' late dismissal - dropped to 17th, just one place and three points above the relegation zone. Torino dominated the first half and were soon on the scoresheet as Cerci's cross from the right found Santana in space to power home a diving header. It could have been 2-0 inside the first quarter-of-an-hour as a superb pass from Paulo Barreto found Cerci inside the area, but goalkeeper Mattia Perin saved at Cerci's feet as he looked set to score. Danilo D'Ambrosio then embarked on an impressive run before setting up Riccardo Meggiorini, who flashed a shot inches wide of the post. The home side finally created a chance of their own on 26 minutes when Weiss tried his luck from distance and was unlucky to see his shot skim the post with goalkeeper Jean Francois Gillet well beaten. But it was the visitors who ended the half on top as Cerci brought a good save from Perin before playing a clever one-two with Meggiorini and slotting past Perin to make it 2-0. Pescara came out fighting in the second half but could not convert their early chances, with Emmanuele Cascione heading over from a corner and Birkir Bjarnason also clearing the bar with a shot from the edge of the area. Bjarnason then missed a glorious chance just after the hour mark when he fired over from close range following a corner, while Elvis Abbruscato header's forced Gillet into a save. Any hopes of a comeback were dashed on 82 minutes when Weiss picked up a second yellow card for dissent and Torino almost made it 3-0 in the dying minutes when Meggiorini's shot came back off the post.