Serie A: Chievo beat rivals Hellas Verona 1-0

Alberto Paloschi scored the only goal of the game to hand Chievo a 1-0 win at Hellas Verona in Sunday's city derby.

The striker headed home Ervin Zukanovic's cross nine minutes from time as Chievo won for the fourth time this season.

Chievo were by far the better side at the Marc' Antonio Bentegodi stadium against a Hellas side that failed to test Chievo goalkeeper Albano Bizzarri until the 84th minute.

The victory, Chievo's second in their last three league games, has lifted the Flying Donkeys to 15th in the standings, four points clear of the drop zone heading into the winter break.

Hellas, meanwhile, have registered their seventh loss of the campaign and are in 13th place, just one point clear of their neighbours.

The hosts went into the contest looking to pick up their first win at home since October 4.

Italian veteran striker Luca Toni, who celebrated his 300th career goal in last weekend's 2-1 triumph at Udinese, had the first opportunity of the game in the 37th minute.

Toni got behind Ivan Martic's cross but struck the ball just wide from the heart of the area.

Two minutes later, Ivan Radovanovic got past his marker and lashed a right-footed effort from 25 yards that was met by a fine save from Hellas goalkeeper Francesco Benussi.

Hellas coach Andrea Mandorlini was forced to make his first substitution before the interval with Alejandro Gonzalez replacing an injured Martic.

The visitors picked up where they left off after the interval and on the hour mark, Benussi was called on to make a save to clear Radovanovic's bullet strike from 30 yards.

At the other end, an unmarked Nene should have done better but headed Emil Hallfredsson's corner-kick way over the bar.

Chievo continued to press forward and deservedly went ahead in the 81st minute.

Benussi could do nothing to stop Paloschi's powerful header from going into the top left corner of goal.

Three minutes later, Bizarri denied Hellas an equaliser when he made a full-stretch save to clear substitute Nico Lopez's goal-bound effort from just outside the area.