Catania 2 Palermo 0
Catania took another step towards Serie A survival with a victory over Sicilian rivals Palermo at the Stadio Massimino this evening.
Maxi Lopez scored both goals for the Rosazzurri in the first half as they dented their neighbours' hopes of qualifying for the Champions League next season and gave themselves a seven-point cushion over the bottom three with six games remaining.
Palermo remained fourth in the table, although they are now level on 51 points with Sampdoria.
Catania started as they meant to go on with Lopez putting them ahead after 14 minutes.
He caught Dorin Goian in possession as he was preparing to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper and stole it from him, leading it a few paces towards the goal before striking his shot across Salvatore Sirigu into the far corner.
Lopez should have had a second in the 19th minute when he was put through with just Sirigu to beat. But he tried to nudge the ball delicately past the Palermo goalkeeper, who was able to push it behind for a corner.
The Rosazzurri were on top of the game and they doubled their lead in the 32nd minute.
Again, it was a mistake by Goian which led to Lopez's second of the game. He waited for the ball to reach him, but Jorge Martinez was alert and raced in to intercept it before skipping past Simon Kjaer and pulling the ball back for Lopez to slot home from close range.
Lopez almost completed his hat-trick five minutes before the interval when he cut in from the right, but a combination of Sirigu and the post denied him.
Edison Cavani came close to bringing Palermo back into the game on the stroke of half-time with a carbon copy of Lopez's angled shot, which was pushed behind by Mariano Andujar.
Palermo started to show some signs of life early in the second half with Cavani shooting straight at Andujar after being put through with just the Catania goalkeeper to beat.
Fabrizio Miccoli shot just inches wide of the post from 20 yards in the 53rd minute as the Rosaneri stepped up their search for a way back into the game.
But as they committed men forward, they left gaps in behind and Catania nearly wrapped up the points when Giuseppe Mascara shot wide of the post as three Catania players opposed two Palermo defenders in the 69th minute.
Catania then decided to sit back and hold onto their lead, which rarely looked in too much danger.
The closest their guests came to scoring was in the 86th minute when their lively substitute Abel Hernandez cut the ball back from the byline to Cavani, but his first touch was clumsy and the chance went begging when he had only Andujar to beat.