Parma 2-2 Hellas Verona

Veteran Hellas Verona hitman Luca Toni is well-placed to finish the Serie A season as the league's top scorer after hitting a brace to deny Parma one last home victory before relegation.First-half goals from Antonio Nocerino and Silvestre Varela set basement boys Parma on a course to appease fans with a rare three-point haul at the Stadio Ennio Tardini, but 37-year-old Toni had other ideas.He reached the 20-goal mark with a header just before half-time and pulled one goal clear of both Juventus' Carlos Tevez and Mauro Icardi of Inter Milan when making it 2-2 from the penalty spot 10 minutes from time.Not only would this be the last opportunity to watch top-flight football at the Tardini for some time, Parma still face the prospect of absolute extinction given no one has yet made a successful bid for the bankrupt club.So the home faithful were in fine voice from the off, with their side taking the early initiative and testing the Verona defence with a dangerous left-footed effort from Varela.In the 21st minute they made the breakthrough. Raffaele Palladino's shot was saved by Rafael but fell to Nocerino, who shrugged off the challenge of Rafael Marquez to slot home.Parma kept turning the screw and scored again in the 36th minute, Varela controlling a ball forward from Jose Mauri before beating Rafael with an angled drive.There was a moment of hush before the break, however, when Toni brought up his 20th goal of the season when winning an aerial duel with Zouhair Feddal to nod Alessandro Agostini's cross into the net.Rather than wait until the final day to do battle with Tevez and Icardi, Toni fancied pulling ahead in the charts at the beginning of the second half, but his soft attempt to convert Panagiotis Tachtsidis' pass was contained.Nico Lopez might have grabbed the equaliser in the 65th minute when he got Antonio Mirante working with an angled drive off his right boot.Hellas were spending more and more of their energy on picking out Toni as time ticked away in Parma and, although he could not catch another break from open play, he would register his 21st goal of the campaign.When Feddal controlled the ball with his arm to concede a penalty, Verona's evergreen striker levelled from the spot to take pole position in the race to be crowned 'Capocannoniere'.ends