Udinese vs. AS Roma, Final Score 1-1: Ten man Udinese hold reactive Roma

The draw does very little to the league table, with both sides continuing to float in the top half, albeit not in immediate danger of creeping into the European qualification places.

Udinese made a flying start to the game, and Antonio Di Natale had a good chance inside the opening five minutes after finding some room on the edge of the area. His shot forced a good diving stop from Roma keeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

After a slow start AS Roma slowly began to apply their own pressure, and inside the opening 20 minutes Alessandro Florenzi should've given Roma the lead after some terrible defending from Udinese. Florenzi was left entirely unmarked from a free-kick, and a simple pass found him in the box, though his shot was well stopped by Željko Brkić.

A couple of minutes later Brkić made another great stop after Florenzi threw himself at a perfect Francesco Totti cross, though the save was all in vain. Following in was Erik Lamela, who tapped the ball into the open goal to hand the giallorossi an early advantage.

Roma looked thoroughly comfortable in their lead through into the second half, playing a defence-first, disciplined style which saw -- in a strange reversal of what would usually be expected -- Udinese in control of possession; dictating the game.

The giallorossi looked to play on the counter-attack, and almost scored just a couple of minutes after Maicosuel hit a low shot from the edge of the area right at Stekelenburg, when Marquinho escaped down the right and crossed in for Florenzi, though he couldn't keep his header down.

Udinese barely troubled Stek until they scored an equaliser from nothing just after the hour. Luis Muriel, checking back in from the byline, drilled a low shot right through the legs of the keeper and into the back of the net for 1-1. Roma had gone from looking entirely in control, to on the back foot.

They had a slice of luck inside the final 20 minutes when Thomas Heurteaux was sent off for a flying two-footed tackle, though they didn't look like they'd be able to take advantage. That was until the final minute of normal time, when substitute Pablo Osvaldo -- who the TV cameras had constantly shown sat on the bench all evening -- had the chance to make himself a hero. He didn't.

Somehow the Italian striker, receiving a low cross from the right, put the ball wide when free in front of goal, just before the final whistle.

Udinese (3-4-2-1): Željko Brkić; Maurizio Domizzi, Danilo, Thomas Heurtaux; Gabriel Silva, Allan, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Dušan Basta; Luis Muriel (Gabrielle Angella 75), Maicosuel (Roberto Pereyra 71); Antonio Di Natale (Mathias Ranégie 85)

Roma (3-4-1-2): Maarten Stekelenburg; Leandro Castán, Nicolás Burdisso, Iván Piris; Marquinho (Federico Balzaretti 87), Simone Perrotta, Daniele De Rossi, Vasilis Torosidis; Alessandro Florenzi (Nicolás López 84); Erik Lamela, Francesco Totti (Pablo Osvaldo 61)

Goals: Lamela 20 (R) Muriel 62 (U)

Red cards: Heurteaux 73 (U)