Serie A | Bologna 1-0 Lecce: Orsolini third time's the charm in rare home victory

A late Riccardo Orsolini header proved enough for Bologna to push past Lecce on the day Lewis Ferguson made his comeback from a serious knee injury, their first home win in seven months.

The Rossoblu finally secured their second win of the season against Cagliari and were looking for some sense of consistency. However, Charalampos Lykogiannis joined Michel Aebischer, Martin Erlic, Nicolò Cambiaghi and Oussama El Azzouzi on the treatment table. Lecce ended their run of four straight defeats by beating Verona 1-0, though Medon Berisha, Luis Hasa, Kevin Bonifazi, Rares Burnete and Filip Marchwinski were still injured.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Santiago Pierotti just failed to get on the end of a Patrick Dorgu cross, then Nikola Krstovic only prodded a weak finish straight at the goalkeeper after good work from Pierotti.

Lecce had the ball in the net on 32 minutes with Hamza Rafia nutmegging Sam Beukema, but it didn’t count because Dorgu fouled Jhon Lucumi in the build-up.

Bologna had a massive double opportunity before half-time, as first Ylber Ramadani risked an own goal on the Juan Miranda cross to force a Wladimiro Falcone reaction save, then Remo Freuler fired the rebound over the bar.

BOLOGNA, ITALY - NOVEMBER 02: Remo Freuler of Bologna misses a goal during the Serie A match between Bologna and Lecce at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on November 02, 2024 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images) — BOLOGNA, ITALY – NOVEMBER 02: Remo Freuler of Bologna misses a goal during the Serie A match between Bologna and Lecce at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on November 02, 2024 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Moments later, Falcone was again crucial to keep out Santiago Castro’s header from a corner.

There was an unusual situation at half-time, as assistant referee Luigi Rossi sustained an injury, so swapped places with fourth official Simone Galipò.

Giovanni Fabbian’s header from a Riccardo Orsolini cross was also straight at Falcone, but Bologna celebrated the return of Lewis Ferguson for the first time since rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in April.

Ferguson was involved in the build-up for the breakthrough goal, as he spread the play down the left, where a Miranda cross came in for Orsolini’s glancing header into the far bottom corner. It was the winger’s third Serie A game in a row on target.