Torino recorded their fourth successive victory on Monday night as goals from Riccardo Meggiorini, Valerio Di Cesare and Mirco Antenucci gave them an impressive 3-1 victory over Padova.
Giampiero Ventura made just the one change from the team that beat Livorno, as Alessandro Parisi came in to replace the suspended Matteo Darmian.
Torino made a bright start, perhaps eager to get revenge on the team that ruined their hopes of promotion last season, and they took the lead after just twelve minutes. Alen Stevanovic, cut the ball back from the right wing, and his cross found Riccardo Meggiorini whose stunning volley went into the bottom corner.
Stevanovic continued to give emergency Padova full back Michele Marcolini a torrid time, and he almost doubled Torino's lead, but his shot was well saved by Mattia Perin. Just eight minutes into the second half, Toro did get their second goal thanks to substitute Valerio Di Cesare.The former Vicenza defender came on in the first half to replace the injured Kamil Glik, and he calmly converted Alessandro Parisi's excellent cross - although replays did show that he may have been offside.
However, Padova reduced the deficit just five minutes later when a slight defensive mix-up between Di Cesare and the normally reliable Angelo Ogbonna allowed Daniele Cacia to score with a fine volley. And the playoff hopefuls almost scored an equaliser soon afterwards when Michele Marcolini's stunning thirty yard strike clipped the crossbar.
Torino also had chances to extend their lead, and substitutes Stefano Guberti and Mirco Antenucci combined well, but the latter missed his kick when well placed. That miss was soon forgotten about three minutes from time as Antenucci scored a fantastic individual goal to seal the points for Toro.
The former Catania striker received the ball near the half way line and knocked the ball past the full back, before continuing his run and curling a low shot into the far corner.
This victory puts Torino two points clear at the top of the table, ahead of a huge game on Saturday evening against 2nd place Pescara - arguably the Granata's biggest match since being relegated in 2009.
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