Torino maintained their unbeaten home record as an Alessio Cerci brace earnt them a draw against Hellas Verona.
With the derby against Juventus coming up on Sunday, Giampiero Ventura made four changes to the side the beat Bologna, as Guillermo Rodriguez, Nicola Bellomo, Alexander Farnerud and Migjen Basha came into the eleven.
It was Nicola Bellomo, making his Serie A debut, who had Torino's first opportunity when his long range effort forced Hellas keeper Rafael. An action less first half was then brought to life ten minutes before the break, as Hellas midfielder Romulo needlessly handled Alessio Cerci's corner to give Torino a penalty.
The former Roma winger stepped up himself to score his third goal in as many games, and that looked as though it would be enough to give Toro a half time lead. However, on the stroke of half time, Hellas equalised when an acrobatic assist from Luca Toni allowed Juanito Gomez to convert from close range.
However, Toro did not have long to wait to retake the lead, as just after the restart Rafael failed to deal with a weak shot from Riccardo Meggiorini and Alessio Cerci was on hand to continue his fine goalscoring form.
And moments later Torino had an opportunity to put the result beyond doubt, but Rafael redeemed himself by tipping Meggiorini's long range effort onto the post. Toro were made to pay for not extending their lead as they then conceded a penalty of their own, when Guillermo Rodriguez pulled former Juventus striker Toni to the ground, and Brazilian midfielder Jorginho scored from the spot.
Both teams seemed to be content with a point, although Torino had valid shouts for a penalty in the dying seconds when Danilo D'Ambrosio was brought down, but the referee waved the claims away. After taking the lead twice, the Granata will be disappointed that they were unable to hold on to the victory. However, they have still made a fine start to the season, and with Alessio Cerci in excellent form, Sunday's derby with Juventus could prove to be more competitive than it has been in recent seasons.
Forza Toro!
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