Roma end Parma unbeaten run

Roma ended Parma's five-game unbeaten run this afternoon as they claimed a 1-0 victory to climb up to fifth in the Serie A table. Fabio Borini's 26th-minute goal handed the giants all three points at the Stadio Olimpico. Roma could have won by a greater margin, but Antonio Mirante put in a solid performance in goal to keep the visitors in the game. Even so, the hosts held on without any major scares to record their 11th win of the campaign. The result has allowed Roma to leapfrog Inter Milan into fifth place after the Nerazzurri lost 3-0 to Bologna yesterday. Parma have dropped to 14th, but have two games in hand. Roma went into the game having taken just one point from their past two matches, but it was Parma who pressured early. They had the first chance early on when Sebastian Giovinco's ten-yard effort was kept out by Roma goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg. Parma dominated possession, but Roma took the lead when Fernando Gago found Borini in the area and his diagonal shot towards the far post beat Mirante. And, Roma almost doubled their advantage before the half-hour mark. Aleandro Rosi got a touch on Miralem Pjanic's cross from the right and his effort went wide. Parma almost equalised before half-time, but Stekelenburg did well to clear Giovinco's hard drive from outside the area. Mirante denied Roma a 2-0 lead early in the second half when he kept out Daniel Osvaldo's goal-bound shot from close range. Substitute Stefano Okaka tried to bring Parma back level in the 53rd minute with a stinging drive from 30 yards which was kept out by Stekelenburg. On the hour mark, Francesco Totti's curled effort went just wide of the far post. In the 75th minute, Mirante punched away Rosi's powerful goal-bound effort. Substitute Erik Lamela should have put the game beyond Parma's reach with five minutes to go, but failed to beat Mirante when through one-on-one. Roma defended deeply in the final stages and Parma failed to find the breakthrough.