Walter Novellino's Torino debut was a disaster, crushed 5-2 by a Marco Di Vaio hat-trick in Bologna.

Toro were in crisis and fired Coach Gianni De Biasi this week to bring back Walter Novellino. Sinisa Mihajlovic was still looking for his first win on the Bologna bench after replacing Daniele Arrigoni, having drawn all five games. Cristian Zenoni was suspended, while Novellino adopted his trademark 4-4-2 without Elvis Abbruscato, Eugenio Corini and the banned Paolo Zanetti.

Torino's last win here in all competition was in 1980, followed by five draws and as many defeats. They had also lost five away games on the trot.

It was therefore surprising when the Granata took the lead at the Dall'Ara almost immediately. Rolando Bianchi flicked on a throw-in into the box for Simone Barone to volley under the bar from the penalty spot. The midfielder was totally unmarked by the distracted Bologna defence.

The Rossoblu fought back, as Matteo Sereni smothered Francesco Valiani's pass for Massimo Marazzina, then the goalkeeper had to come flying out after Coelho pounced on Francesco Pratali's poor backpass.

Francesco Antonioli threw himself at Bianchi's feet, while Toro players repeatedly found space on set plays.

Marazzina had penalty appeals waved away for a nudge from Pisano, putting him off balance as he went to chest the ball, and Marco Di Vaio blasted well over. Valiani couldn't get a clean enough header to a deflected Coelho free kick.

There was danger when Ignazio Abate flew down the left flank and crossed for Bianchi, but Salvatore Lanna's attempt to chest it back towards his goalkeeper almost turned into an own goal, forcing Antonioli into a save.

Marazzina's header was too central from Di Vaio's overhead cross, but Di Vaio had a fantastic chance when a long pass over the defence sent him clear on goal, but he incredibly scuffed the chest down and it dribbled meekly out for a goal kick.

Sereni smothered a Coelho snapshot and another curling free kick from the Brazilian.

However, Torino nearly scored with a classic counter-attack. Dzemaili combined with Aimo Diana only for his shot to be deflected wide off Lanna.

From the resulting corner kick Antonioli performed a miracle to palm Cesare Natali's header away, but there are doubts as to whether it had already crossed the line.

Sergio Volpi came on for the second half and within three minutes had equalised for Bologna! Marazzina burst into the box and the angle got too narrow, so he left it for Volpi and the cross-shot was deflected off Pratali to loop into the far corner. It was a curious scorer, as Novellino was Volpi's mentor and this was the first time he had ever played against him.

It didn't last long, as Torino restored their advantage moments later. Abate flew down the right with a perfect counter-attack and was given the goal, although his shot took a decisive deflection off Britos.

This too was a brief advantage, as within 120 seconds Di Vaio had made it 2-2! A corner kick was not cleared effectively when Pratali scuffed the ball from six yards and turned it into an assist for Di Vaio!

Di Vaio has been exceptional this season and completed his brace moments later to put Bologna in front for the first time in this match. He trapped Mingazzini's long ball forward, dribbled past Pratali and smacked an angled drive in at the near post, sending Sereni the wrong way.

The Rossoblu extended their advantage even further, as Sereni comically tried to dribble under pressure from Bernacci, but lost the ball and brought him down. Bernacci got back up to convert.

Bianchi should've made it 4-3 moments later, but he incredibly nodded wide of the target. He was replaced by Roberto Stellone, who right away had an effort deflected wide.

However, the referee pointed to the spot again when Pratali brought down Bernacci on the counter-attack for an inevitable red card. This time Di Vaio took the penalty duties and converted to complete his hat-trick!