Catania 1-1 Lazio

Catania earned their first Serie A point of the season in a 1-1 draw against Lazio.

Substitute Julio Cruz's 57th-minute equaliser for the Rome club cancelled out Jorge Martinez's first-half opener for the hosts.

Gianluca Atzori's side were unlucky not to claim all three points with Martinez being denied by the post shortly after the hour mark.

The Sicilian outfit dominated the game and should have taken their first win of the campaign but failed to make the most of their chances.

Atzori was under pressure to take a result against Lazio with his side having lost their opening three games of the campaign, most recently a 4-2 defeat at Udinese.

Lazio were also desperate to get back on the winning track having gone into the encounter at the Angelo Massimino stadium on the back of two consecutive defeats.

The Biancoceleste lost 2-0 against Juventus last time out before losing 2-1 at home to Salzburg in their Europa League opener on Thursday.

The visitors had the first chance early on, Pasquale Foggia tried his luck from long range and his powerful left-foot strike went wide of Catania goalkeeper Mariano Andujar's far post.

But Catania hit back and broke the deadlock soon after in their first attack of the game.

Martinez played a one-two with Takayuki Morimoto before unleashing a right-footed strike past Lazio goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.

The capital club reacted with Roberto Baronio's right-footed strike from the edge of the area going wide.

The visitors struggled to get past Catania's defence as the Sicilian outfit defended deeply and tried to hit Lazio with fast counter-attacks.

On the half-hour mark Morimoto had a chance to extend Catania's lead but his powerful header from Ciro Capuano's cross went wide.

Shortly after Morimoto fed Giuseppe Mascara on the edge of the area whose strike went high over the crossbar.

In the 43rd minute the Japanese player missed a decent chance when he got behind Gennaro Delvecchio's cross but fired wide from inside the area.

On the stroke of half-time Andujar did well to parry away Foggia's curled free-kick towards the near post as the hosts went into the break with a narrow advantage.

Lazio showed more determination after the restart and their efforts were rewarded.

Cruz, who came on at half-time, latched onto Foggia's cross from the right and his close-range header beat fellow Argentinian Andujar.

Catania reacted and Capuano fed Martinez, whose right-foot strike from the six-yard box beat Andujar but rebounded off the far post.

Shortly after, Martinez fired wide from inside the area after latching onto Capuano's cross.

Muslera was then forced to make a save from Mascara's strike as Catania kept pressing forward for the winner.

Morimoto should have given his team a 2-1 lead with two minutes remaining but his left-foot shot from outside the area went just over the crossbar as Lazio held on for a point.