UDINESE COACH PRAISES ZEMURA’S HUGE IMPACT

UDINESE coach Gabriele Cioffi has praised Zimbabwe international wingback, Jordan Zemura, for his current good form which has seen him assume a place among the starting XI after spending much of the first half of the Italian Serie A season warming the bench.

Cioffi believes Zemura is improving. He became the first Zimbabwean to score a goal in the Serie A and this coming on his debut season.

“[Kingsley Ehizibue and Jordan Zemura] are playing well. They’re worrying Joao Ferreira and Festy Ebosele and that’s important. I thought they maintained the same quality that they showed against Juve,” said Cioffi.

Zemura scored a brilliant goal, his first in Serie A, from just inside the box as Udinese drew 1-1 at home to Cagliari in a Serie A match on Sunday, another share of the spoils after a goalless draw in the reverse fixture.

The 24-year-old ventured into enemy territory unmarked on the left and, on getting to the end of an otherwise poor cross, he smashed a right-footer into the roof of the net in the 14th minute for a debut goal in one of the top domestic leagues in Europe after his move from English Premiership side, Bournemouth.

Zemura, who played his 18th match of the season, was taken out in the 65th minute and earned a man-of-the-match rating of 8.8 out of 10 on the Soccerway website on a day he registered his first goal involvement with the club.

He had a decent game in the previous week’s sensational 1-0 win away to title chasing Juventus and Udinese have now gone for three unbeaten matches as the battle for survival continues.

The draw on Sunday however, did not help Udinese’s cause in their fight against relegation.

With 23 points from 25 games, Udinese are 15th in the 20-team Serie A and just three points above 18th placed Verona, who currently occupy the final relegation slot.

“We created lots of chances that we should’ve converted. Their first half goal cut our legs from under us. It’s hard to pin the responsibility on one person. Gianluca Gaetano made a great run and got his head under it perfectly.

“We shut off in the second half. We didn’t rise to the occasion despite the fact we had numerous chances to wrap the game up.”