Verona got their first win of the season, overturning a Ciccio Caputo stunner with a lucky Thomas Henry ricochet and winner from Scottish new signing Josh Doig.
Both sides came into Week 5 with only two points in the table, though Samp were boosted by finally scoring their first goal of the season, a last-gasp equaliser against Lazio. Deadline day signings Harry Winks and Ignacio Pussetto were respectively out of the squad and on the bench.
Francesco Caputo’s header was well saved on a Fabio Quagliarella cross, while Tommaso Augello’s effort was charged down.
Samp did break the deadlock with a moment of magic from Caputo, who turned Pawel Dawidowicz and placed an inch-perfect left-foot curler into the far top corner from 15 yards, almost without even looking at the target.
There was a stroke of luck in the equaliser, as Filippo Terracciano’s cross found the head of Thomas Henry, it bounced off the crossbar, hit Emil Audero on the back of the head and went in.
During first half stoppages, Verona turned it around completely. Audero came flying out to anticipate Kevin Lasagna on the Darko Lazovic flick, but Josh Doig was ready to fire the loose ball into the empty net. The Scotsman marked his first Serie A start with a goal.
Doig threatened another after the break, stinging Audero’s gloves at the near post, while Lasagna sprung the offside trap on a Lazovic pass and went around the goalkeeper only to narrow the angle too much.
Lazovic also forced a save from Audero as the offside trap again failed to activate, then the Sampdoria goalkeeper tracked back to slap a Doig cross-shot out from under the bar, denied Miguel Veloso one-on-one and then made a remarkable reaction save on Lazovic after the cheeky turn.
Verona kept wasting chances to kill the game and risked an equaliser with Manolo Gabbiadini drilling just wide and Caputo hitting the side-netting.
Verona 2-1 Sampdoria
Caputo 40 (S), Audero og 45 (V), Doig 45+3 (V)