Cagliari beat Novara 2-1 in Italian Serie A

 　　ROME, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Thanks to goals from Thiago Ribeiro and Joaquin Larrivey, Cagliari beat Novara 2-1 on Saturday to stay atop of the Italian Serie A table for a night with a 100 per cent record.

　　The Sardinians were in high spirit after beating Roma away in their opening game, and they went ahead in the 38th minute with Thiago Ribeiro's debut¹ Serie A goal.

　　A free kick was taken quickly for Agostini's cross, knocked on by Nene for the Brazilian's free header from six yards. The Novara defence left far too much space for Thiago Ribeiro to prepare his finish.

　　Novara's first shot on target saw Michael Agazzi smother² a Rigoni snapshot just before half-time.

　　Porcari went close to an equaliser after the restart, his powerful free kick beated round the post with some difficulty by Agazzi. On the resulting corner, Francesco Marianini nodded over.

　　At the other end, Lisuzzo's diving header very nearly turned into a spectacular own goal, but luckily for him shaved the upright. Novara aimed a shot at the proper end of the field, as Agazzi dealt with a Rigoni long-range effort.

　　Nene tried to score a sensational³ solo effort, running down the left flank and bursting into the box only for his shot to be parried by Ujkani's foot at the base of the near post. From the corner, Conti only scuffed⁴ his volley.

　　Cagliari thought Morganella should have been sent off for knocking over Victor Ibarbo when running towards the area, but the referee⁵ was lenient⁶ and only flashed a yellow card.

　　The Sardinians put the result beyond doubt in the final stages, as Conti's daisy-cutter from outside the box took a decisive touch off Joaquin Larrivey's toe to redirect it into the far bottom corner past a helpless Ujkani.

　　However, just 70 seconds later Novara pulled one back, as Morimoto's hopeful shot from the edge of the area took a deflection off Pisano and looped up over the goalkeeper into an empty net.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 smother   

vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息

参考例句：

• They tried to smother the flames with a damp blanket.他们试图用一条湿毯子去灭火。
• We tried to smother our laughter.我们强忍住笑。

3 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

4 scuffed   

v.使磨损( scuff的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚走

参考例句：

• I scuffed the heel of my shoe on the stonework. 我的鞋跟儿给铺好的石头磨坏了。
• Polly dropped her head and scuffed her feet. 波莉低下头拖着脚走开了。 来自辞典例句

5 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

6 lenient   

adj.宽大的，仁慈的

参考例句：

• The judge was lenient with him.法官对他很宽大。
• It's a question of finding the means between too lenient treatment and too severe punishment.问题是要找出处理过宽和处罚过严的折中办法。