Crotone 4-2 Torino: Simy Nwankwo scores brace

By Taofeek Babalola

Nigerian international Simy Nwankwo scored brace as he fired Crotone to a 4-2 victory over Torino in a Serie A clash at the Stadio Ezio Scida on Sunday afternoon.

Two goals from Nwankwo and strikes by Arkadiusz Reca and Adam Ounas were enough to ensure that I Pitagorici took all three points from the contest, despite Rolando Mandragora having brought the Granata level just before the break and a late strike from Antonio Sanabria.

Despite the fact that bottom-placed Crotone has been struggling this season, Nwankwo has continued to impress with his scoring prowess. His double goal on Sunday increased his goal tally to 10.

Although the first half was played at an almost unsustainable pace, neither side were finding clear-cut opportunities easy to come by as both backlines held firm under the constant assault.

However, it would be the hosts who finally made the breakthrough just before the half-hour mark when Cristian Ansaldi handled the ball inside the Granata box, handing Simy the chance to give I Pitagorici the lead from the spot. The striker made no mistake with his penalty as he calmly sent Salvatore Sirigu the wrong way to give Crotone the advantage.

It was a lead that the hosts would hold until the stroke of half time when some wonderful work down the right-hand side by the Granata’s Mergim Vojvoda finally unlocked their defence. Vojvoda’s cross eventually finding its way to Mandragora who thundered home the equaliser.

However, somewhat against the run of play, it was Gli Squali who regained the lead early in the second stanza. Ounas’ long-range effort came back off the post to Junior Messias and he forced Sirigu into action with a low driven effort, but the keeper’s save landed at the feet of Nwankwo who rifled home his second goal of the afternoon.

Crotone then doubled their advantage only ten minutes from time thanks to Reca’s stunning long-range effort, but Torino ensured the contest went down to the wire with their own long-range wonder goal from Sanabria with just six minutes to play.

A red card deep into injury time for Tomas Rincon ended any chances of a Granata fightback and Ounas rounded off a wonderful display for the Pitagorici as his wonderful strike with the last kick of the game ended the afternoon’s scoring.