Spezia down to Serie B as Verona survive with victory in relegation play-off
Marco Zaffaroni’s side got off to the perfect start when Davide Faraoni opened the scoring inside five minutes, as Spezia defender Ethan Ampadu failed to divert his low shot away from goal.
The Mastiffs were in command and hunting a second, and Faraoni had a header saved moments later, while Pawel Dawidowicz nodded off-target from close range, either side of Arkadiusz Reca seeing a thumping effort tipped around the post at the other end.
Ampadu, on-loan in Italy from Chelsea, went from zero to hero when he spectacularly levelled the tie, drilling home his first senior goal from long range via the crossbar.
That was merely a brief respite for Spezia though, as Verona retook the lead 11 minutes later when Ngonge rounded off a slick move with a first-time finish, before the forward doubled the advantage by squeezing a deflected effort in at the near post to give the Mastiffs a two-goal cushion at the break.
Spezia desperately searched for a way back into the game after the break, and only a superb save from Lorenzo Montipò prevented Szymon Zurkowski from pulling one back.
Their comeback hopes were handed a lifeline with a little over 20 minutes remaining when Verona had Faraoni sent off for clearing Eldor Shomurodov’s shot off the line with his hand, although the Aquilotti failed to take advantage as M'Bala Nzola’s resultant penalty desperately lacked quality and was saved.
Leonardo Semplici made a string of attacking substitutions to try and rescue a result, but no matter how hard they tried, Montipo continued to stand in Spezia’s way, making a trio of stunning stops from Shomurodov, Mehdi Mourabia and Ampadu.
The goalkeeper was also on hand to dive at the feet of Nzola late on, while Ampadu rattled the bar, as Verona clung on for a famous victory, extending their stay in Serie A into a fifth season.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lorenzo Montipo (Verona)