CREMONA, Italy :AS Roma went provisionally top of the Serie A standings with a 3-1 win at Cremonese on Sunday, where Irish striker Evan Ferguson came off the bench and ended his almost 13-month goal drought at club level.
Roma are on 27 points, two points ahead of Napoli who beat Atalanta 3-1 on Saturday, with Inter Milan third on 24 points ahead of their clash with AC Milan later on Sunday. Cremonese are 12th in the standings on 14 points.
In an action-packed first half which included a Roma goal ruled out for offside and a Cremonese penalty overturned, the visitors took the lead through Matias Soule in the 17th minute.
Ferguson was introduced on the hour mark, and four minutes later netted his first goal for Roma. Wesley Franca wrapped up the win after another five minutes, with Francesco Folino heading in a stoppage-time consolation goal for the hosts.
Cremonese had the best of the early exchanges. Jamie Vardy, caught offside on a couple of occasions, played a neat one-two which ended with Mile Svilar saving from Federico Bonazzoli.
Roma went up the other end and Manu Kone rolled a pass across to Soule who rifled his effort from the edge of the area beyond keeper Emil Audero.
Lorenzo Pellegrini thought he had doubled Roma’s lead but was in an offside position when he pounced to net a rebound and Cremonese then came close to equalising.
Svilar was unable to hold a Jari Vandeputte strike and to the keeper’s relief the ball came back off the post, which did give Vandeputte another chance but Svilar was back to save.
On the stroke of halftime the referee awarded Cremonese a penalty for a Gianluca Mancini handball, but a VAR video check overturned the decision and Roma took their lead into the break.
FINALLY FERGUSON
Ferguson had missed the last three Roma games with an ankle injury which also kept him out of international duty with Ireland, and while manager Gian Piero Gasperini did not risk him from the start, he was given his chance from the bench.
Cremonese failed to clear the ball from their area and when Neil El Aynaoui laid a pass off to Ferguson, the Irishman kept his cool and took a touch to control before bending his shot round Svilar to the corner of the net.
Ferguson’s last club goal came in October 2024 for Brighton & Hove Albion against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, and the entire Roma team raced to celebrate with the 21-year-old.
Gasperini had earlier been shown a red card, but was all smiles in the stands when Franca was sent through by Stephan El Shaarawy’s perfectly weighted pass from midfield, and chipped his shot over the onrushing keeper.
Folino’s late goal was the only blot on a confident Roma performance, and Gasperini’s side can now sit back and watch the Milan derby to see if Inter can keep pace.
