(Reuters) - Substitute Manolo Gabbiadini scored late to give Sampdoria a 1-0 win over rivals Genoa and lift his side out of the Serie A relegation zone at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Saturday.
The first Derby della Lanterna of the season provided few thrills as the two sides battled out an ill-disciplined affair, until Gabbiadini swept in the winner five minutes from time.
The win moved Sampdoria up to 17th place on 15 points, two clear of the drop zone and four ahead of second-bottom Genoa.
The result continues a rotten record for Genoa in this fixture, as they are now without a win in their last seven league derbies against Sampdoria, failing to score in five of those.
Both teams struggled to carve out meaningful opportunities in a game littered with fouls that saw referee Daniele Doveri brandish eight yellow cards over the 90 minutes.
Yet Gabbiadini, who was surprisingly excluded from Claudio Ranieri's starting line-up, produced the moment of quality the game was crying out for 10 minutes after coming on by guiding a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
(Reporting by Alasdair Mackenzie; Editing by Ian Chadband)
