Atalanta BC bounced back from defeat in the opening fixture of the season with a 2-0 win over Serie A newcomers Frosinone at Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia this evening.
Atalanta had a chance to open the scoring just over 10 minutes into the tie when Leonardo Blanchard brought Mauricio Pinilla down in the box, but the striker's low shot from the resulting penalty was kept out by Nicola Leali.
The hosts continued to create the majority of the chances, but the Frosinone keeper gathered a Jasmin Kurtic cross, before blocking a Boukary Drame effort.
Atalanta did break the deadlock midway through the first half, though, when Guglielmo Stendardo fired the ball in from the edge of the box after Frosinone thought that they had cleared a corner.
Pinilla could have doubled their advantage five minutes later when Kurtic played the ball in for the striker, but his low drive was turned behind for a corner.
The visitors started to see more of the ball as the first half progressed, giving Danilo Soddimo a chance to level the scores, but he could not turn the ball in from Federico Dionisi's cross.
Atalanta were on the attack again before the break, but Alejandro Gomez was denied by a diving stop from Leali, before Maximiliano Moralez headed over from the resulting corner.
The hosts continued to show the greater level of urgency early in the second half, giving Pinilla a chance to add a second on the hour mark after Gomez won a free kick, but his flick-on was blocked.
Alejandro Rosi came close to levelling for the visitors against the run of play soon after when Robert Gucher lofted the ball into the box on the counter-attack, but his shot was just wide.
The miss allowed Atalanta to get the ball back, and they doubled their advantage just four minutes later when Gomez unleashed a powerful drive from 25 yards out, blasting the ball just inside the left post.
Drame could have added a third for the hosts in the closing stage of the match, collecting a through-ball from Pinilla, but his curling finish was kept out by the post.
The result moves Atalanta up to ninth in the table, while Frosinone sit 19th, having failed to pick up a point from their opening two matches of the campaign.
Sian Cowper
