Super Eagles central defender William Troost Ekong marshaled the back line as Udinese defeated Bologna 2-1 in the Serie A on Sunday afternoon.
The ever present member of the Udinese team once again proved his mettle with an assured display at the Stadio Friuli.
Nigerian born striker Stefano Okaka who was handed a starters’ shirt was replaced by Lukasz Teodorczyk at injury time.
Andrea Poli gifted Udinese the opening goal when he was caught in possession just outside the box, then lightly tugged Ignacio Pussetto’s shirt for a penalty. Pussetto certainly made the most of the slight contact to go down, but Rodrigo De Paul set Lukasz Skorupski the wrong way to convert.
Bologna continued to push and after a series of goalmouth scrambles, found their equaliser. At the end of a well-worked team move, Riccardo Orsolini rolled across the face of goal from the right for Rodrigo Palacio to tap in.
Udinese restored their lead 11 minutes from time, as Pussetto ghosted between defenders to find a free header on Stryger-Larsen’s cross from the right.
Ekong has made a total of 25 appearances for Udinese in the Serie A this season.
