Cesena 1-1 Sampdoria

An own goal by substitute Constantin Nica handed Sampdoria a 1-1 draw at Cesena on Sunday.The hosts were on course for their first win since August 31 after Stefano Lucchini scored on the hour against his former club.But with 13 minutes remaining, Nica deflected Citadin Eder's cross into his own net to pull Samp level.Both teams had a chance to win the game late with Cesena's Emmanuel Cascione's effort hitting the crossbar and Samp substitute Gianluca Sansone's bullet strike rebounding off the post.The outcome at the Dino Manuzzi stadium has left Samp in fourth place, one point adrift of third-place Napoli.Cesena have remained 19th, two points adrift of safety.The hosts went into the game looking for their first win since beating Parma on the opening day of the campaign.Stefano Okaka, who scored on his debut to give Italy a 1-0 win over Albania in a friendly this week, started in Samp's attack.The visitors pleaded for a penalty early on when Okaka fell in the box under the challenge of Cesena defender Daniele Capelli, but the referee waved play on.Samp had a great chance to go in front in the 26th minute when Roberto Soriano's cross found an unmarked Citadin Eder in the heart of the area but the Brazilian forward struck the ball off target.Before the interval, Cesena's Franco Brienza got past two defenders only for his dangerous cross not to find a team-mate in the box.Samp almost went ahead four minutes after the restart.Soriano's perfect cross fell to Okaka in the box and his back-heel shot was kept out by Cesena goalkeeper Nicola Leali.Cesena were then lucky not to fall behind when Eder's left-footed volley from 15 yards found the woodwork with Leali rooted to the spot.Just when the visitors looked more dangerous, Cesena scored against the run of play.Brienza's free-kick found Lucchini in the area and his first attempt was kept out by Sampdoria goalkeeper Sergio Romero but the defender reacted quickly to pounce on the rebound.Samp reacted and were rewarded when Nica's unfortunate touch towards his own goal beat Leali.With nine minutes remaining, Leali made a superb save to clear Okaka's curled attempt towards the far post.ends