Udinese 2 : 2 Catania - Wily Di Natale salvages point

Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 by PA

Veteran Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale scored an injury-time equaliser to deny Catania their first league away win of the season in a 2-2 draw.

Di Natale opened the scoring after 29 minutes but Catania stormed ahead with only minutes remaining when Francesco Lodi fired in a free-kick after Lucas Castro had earlier benefited from some poor defending.

But Di Natale popped up moments from the end as he thrashed into an unguarded net after the Catania defence left him unmarked.

Di Natale was quickly into the thick of the action although his radar was off early on as he shot wide when well placed.

Gonzalo Bergessio was similarly wasteful with a long-range effort at the other end before the veteran striker put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot.

Di Natale won the penalty when he drew Nicolas Spolli into a foul and he made no mistake to leave Mariano Andujar with no chance of making a save.

Andrea Lazzari failed to make it 2-0 just before the break when he blazed well wide with only Andujar to beat.

Catania gave an indication of their threat moments after half-time when Gonzalo Bergessio shot just wide before substitute Castro did find the net.

He was indebted to some poor defending for his chance, after Maurizio Domizzi made a hash of his attempted clearance, but Castro capitalised fully to slam past Zeljko Brkcic.

Catania sensed a first away win and Bergessio shot just wide of the left-hand post again before Lodi gave them a lead with five minutes left with a cracking free-kick that split the wall.

The visitors could not hold on, though, as they fatally left Di Natale alone inside the six-yard box to score the leveller in the second minute of injury time.