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Despite coming under a lot of pressure and ending in 10 men, Fiorentina managed to beat local rivals Siena with an Adrian Mutu header.
The Tuscan derby saw teams on opposite ends of the table, as the Viola are in the hunt for a European spot, while Robur battle against the drop. Manuel Pasqual and Manuele Blasi returned from bans. This was only the third top flight edition of this fixture with a 0-0 draw and 2-1 home win.
Enrico Chiesa returned to face his former club and within 20 seconds his screamer had brought a splendid flying save out of Sebastien Frey.
Veteran Chiesa continued to cause problems, as his shot from the edge of the box whistled past the upright.
Siena were pouring forward, as Frey fingertipped a Daniele Corvia effort on to the crossbar and from the resulting corner kick Gastaldello nodded just wide.
Luca Toni put the ball in the back of the net, but he was offside when Adrian Mutu's cross came in. Mutu's spin and shot was too weak to trouble Alex Manninger.
Despite all the pressure, Siena went behind on the stroke of half-time. Reginaldo's deep cross saw Toni slip in the six yard box, but this just left space for the on-rushing Mutu to nod in.
Fiorentina nearly doubled their lead on 57 minutes, as an initial Mutu effort was parried off Manninger's outstretched foot and Riccardo Montolivo's follow-up cleared off the line by Daniele Portanova.
Simone Vergassola's volley was over from a promising position and Siena Coach Mario Beretta was sent off for dissent on 68 minutes. The referee then dismissed Fiorentina defender Alessandro Gamberini. Already on a yellow card, he foolishly stood right in front of a free kick to slow down play and a second booking was inevitable.
Manninger pushed a Toni cross-shot out for a corner.
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