Elia Caprile put in a man-of-the-match display as Cagliari ended a run of four consecutive Serie A defeats with a 1-0 win over high-flying Frosinone, who suffered just their second league loss since the opening day (W6, D2), and their first in five matches.
Surprise package Frosinone came into this game high on confidence, with six league wins to their name and 24 goals scored in 10 league games, a tally bettered only by AS Roma and Inter Milan.
After an evenly contested start to proceedings, that belief translated into a flurry of shots, two of which forced Caprile into smart stops as he palmed away a pair of rifled Giacomo Calo efforts.
Yet just as it looked like momentum was with the visitors, Cagliari netted only their third home league goal of the campaign seven minutes before half-time, marking the eighth time in 11 Serie A games in which they’d broken the deadlock this term.
Michel Adopo collected the ball in the final third, played a neat one-two with Paul Mendy, and carried it towards the edge of the box where he let fly into the top corner for his first goal of the season.
The hosts looked to press home that advantage after the restart, and they would have doubled their lead were it not for an excellent reflex save from Lorenzo Palmisani, who was alert to thwart Paul Mendy’s near-post flicked attempt.
Frosinone soon amped up the pressure in search of a leveller, and Calo again looked the most likely to make a difference, denied once more by Caprile’s swift reactions.
Continuing to probe, it looked as if the visitors had finally beaten Caprile, yet the shot-stopper managed to tip Matteo Cichella’s strike onto the underside of the crossbar, atoning for a misjudged punch moments earlier.
Ultimately, that was as close as they came to salvaging a point, as Gli Isolani managed the game well to see out three morale-boosting points.
Cagliari avoid a fifth defeat in their last eight league matches against newly-promoted opposition, climbing back into the top half in the table as a result.
Four points further ahead in sixth, Frosinone remain unmoved for now despite missing the chance to claim a third successive Serie A victory for the first time in their history.
Nonetheless, an impressive start to the season means that the Canarini should be able to avoid a relegation battle at the very least, having yet to stay up in any of their three previous Serie A campaigns.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Elia Caprile (Cagliari)
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