Sampdoria were without a single away victory all season, but doomed Reggina to a shock home defeat.

Samp needed a boost after their derby defeat left them drifting above the relegation zone and so this was a crunch match to stay afloat. Reggina were unbeaten on home turf since a last-gasp 3-2 to Inter on November 1 and the Blucerchiati didn't have a single Serie A away win all season, failing to even score since October 5!

Daniele Franceschini and Gennaro Delvecchio sat out bans for Sampdoria, while Valdez, Giosa and Emanuele Cascione were injured for the home team. Goalkeeper Luca Castellazzi sprained his hand in the warm-up and made way for Antonio Mirante.

Mirko Pieri fired Claudio Bellucci's assist over the bar, but Edgar Barreto really should've opened the scoring on 10 minutes. The corner kick came to the Paraguayan, but he scuffed the finish in acres of space!

Sampdoria had their first real chance on the half-hour, as Antonio Cassano's sudden snapshot from 30 metres stung Andrea Campagnolo's palms.

It was mainly Reggina, though, as Franco Brienza's left-foot daisy-cutter was smothered and Ciccio Cozza wasted Bernardo Corradi's counter.

Brienza risked a second bookable offence for his challenge that forced Daniele Dessena off the field in tears. The Samp man's boot came off in the incident and he was taken to hospital for x-rays on his foot. Substitute Marius Stankevicius almost immediately nodded Pieri's cross wide and Cassano's free kick was comfortably held.

On 65 minutes Campagnolo had to keep out a chance created by Cassano's backheel for Pieri, that was deflected and at the other post Padalino brought a tough save out of the goalkeeper.

The referee pointed to the spot when Bruno Cirillo brought down Cassano, although the Sampdoria star did not exactly try to avoid the contact. Claudio Bellucci took the penalty and fired under the bar to give the Blucerchiati the lead.

They threatened a second on the counter-attack with Cassano chipping Campagnolo, but Cirillo got back for a goalline clearance.

Sampdoria made it 2-0 as Cassano chested down a long Stankevicius ball and rolled across for the unmarked Padalino at the back post.