Cesena recorded their first victory in four outings as they swatted aside a Pescara side who, after sinking Avellino in a five-goal thriller last time out, harboured hopes of leapfrogging the Seahorses after their three game barren spell.
Antonino Ragusa, however, suppressed their ambition when the 25-year-old headed beyond Simone Aresti with the game 12 minutes old.
Seahorses strike
Aiming to stem a three game winless stretch, Cesena quickly monopolised possession and probed with intent.
Fruitless it was, however, and it was the visitors who went close during the opening exchanges when Memushaj lofted a free-kick onto the roof of the net.
Bari had provided the blueprint for Massimo Oddi’s side when they had visited the Dino Manuzzi a fortnight ago and prevailed with a comprehensive 2-0 victory.
But they would be left to rue their early openings when the Seahorses opened the scoring on 12 minutes.
Stefano Sensi, highly sought after given his assured start to the season, delivered a tantalising free-kick into the area and Ragusa, after peeling off his marker, nodded beyond Simone Aresti to offer Massimo Drago some long-awaited respite.
Pescara’s response had been meek and it wasn’t until ten minutes after Ragusa’s opener that the visitors summoned an effort on goal. Benali received possession on the edge of the area, swivelled but he shanked his final effort woefully wide of the mark.
Pescara No.1 Aresti was almost left with egg on his face when Kessie’s audacious attempt from long-range nearly skimmed under the his outstretched body.
The visitors were teetering on the brink and their subservience was underlined just shy of the half hour mark when Kone squandered a golden chance to double Cesena’s lead. Ragusa prompted fingertips from Aresti and when his palm could only shift the ball out to Kone - admittedly with his back to goal — the midfielder blazed horribly over.
Sensi, a prominent figure throughout, fashioned a left-footed volley at goal on 32 minutes but the ball veered agonisingly wide.
The precocious midfielder was pilfered in possession five minutes from the interval, though, with Caprari going close with his left-foot.
Molina replied with an plucky effort of his own, an attempted lob while the goalkeeper was temporarily out of his goal, but the ball lacked sufficient dip.
Interchanging with Kone on the edge of the area, Sensi offered a fleeting exhibition of his ability by evading a Pescara challenge and prompting fingertips from Aresti between the sticks shortly after the interval.
Visitors go in search of equaliser
The game began to open up as the visitors went in search of a leveller. Sensi was clattered by Verre in midfielder after the Italian’s errant touch.
Gianluca Lapadula thought he had restored parity when he was liberated in-behind the hosts reargued and finished emphatically, but the linesman curtailed the forward’s jubilation after replays adjudged the 25-year-old had strayed offside.
Aresti proved equal to Molina’s effort when the attacker shimmied inside and curled his effort towards the back post. Succi squandered a golden chance from a Ragusa cut-back seconds later as the Seahorses cranked up the pressure.
Magnusson was an impermeable force throughout and the home side were indebted to the Icelandic when he foiled Lapadula after the forward shaped to shoot inside the area. The Seahorses survived but the heart-in-mouth moment gave credence to the belief that Cesena were never safe.
They could have ended the match as a contest when the ball fell invitingly to Kone from point-blank range but the midfielder, guilty of some first-half profligacy, shot straight down Aresti’s throat.
Pescara’s pressure during the dying embers wasn’t so much unremitting as more uninspiring. Six minutes of additional time were played and, while Torreira was receiving his marching orders for a second bookable offence, Pescara's hopes of moving three points clear of tonight's opponents went up in smoke.