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Soccer News of Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Source: goal.com

Donsah’s Cagliari storm to victory in Serie A

The Ghanaian midfielder played his part in an outstanding first-half showing, before being replaced at the break.

The midfielder and his teammates still have it all to do in Serie A—they remain six points behind Richmond Boakye’s Atalanta with only four matches to play—but two wins in their last three have given them a genuine chance of survival

They gave themselves a fighting chance with a dominant display against bottom club Parma.

The fallen giants have already had their own relegation confirmed, and it was easy to see why as Cagliari—who replaced Gianfranco Zola with Gianluca Festa at the end of April—raced into an early lead.

The islanders headed into this fixture knowing that it represented an ideal opportunity to kick-start their battle to remain in the top flight.

Midfielder Albin Ekdal opened the scoring on three minutes, before Diego Farias doubled Cagliari’s advantage before a quarter of an hour had been played.

It was three before half-time as former Tottenham Hotspur man Paul-Jose M’Poku sent a powerful shot past Alessandro Iacobucci.

Having taken complete control of the match, Cagliari replaced Donsah—who has struggled with injury over the last few months—at the break.

Duje Cop added a fourth just after the hour mark as Festa’s troops saw out a muted second half.

Following the match, the new coach praised his team for keeping “hope alive” in an interview with Sky.

“We’ve been working hard to get them playing to the maximum,” Festa continued.

“Another step which has kept hope alive. That’s the desire we always go onto the pitch with.

“My boys are good players, they’ve shown that today. Everybody played well today, and we’re happy.

Donsah, writing on his Facebook account after the match, thanked God for the triumph: “Thank God for the victory, and so it goes on…#strength”