Staff Reporter.
Two goals from defenders earned AS Roma a 2-0 victory over Spezia on Monday, a result that saw Jose Mourinho’s side climb above Juventus into sixth place in the Serie A standings.
Chris Smalling headed Roma ahead when he converted after Tammy Abraham’s earlier header following a corner.
Abraham later hit the crossbar before Roger Ibanez added a second goal after 10 minutes of the second half.
But Roma, who move up to sixth, ended the game with 10 men when substitute Felix Afena-Gyan was shown a second yellow card late on after a handball.
Roma had suffered successive league defeats – against Bologna and Inter Milan – earlier this month.
After 17 matches, Roma are 12 points behind Serie A leaders Inter and play at third-placed Atalanta on Saturday.
The Portuguese coach was also not too happy with his team’s overall performance throughout the match.
“I liked the two goals from a corner because yesterday we trained on this for 20, 25 minutes,” Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia.
“I like the result but not the game or how we played. We were in control in the first half but we lost a lot of easy balls.”We brought Spezia back into the game, when it was not difficult to close it.”