Luciano Spalletti registered his first victory of his second tenure as Roma boss as the Giallorossi narrowly overcame cellar-dwellars Frosinone at the Stadio Olimpico.
Radja Nainggolan struck first blood for the hosts but Daniel Ciofani responded almost instantaneously.
Fittingly, it was debutant Stephan El Shaarawy who restored his side's advantage as he flicked Ervin Zukanovic's delivery beyond Nicola Leali with an improvised piece of trickery.
Miralem Pjanic added Roma's third seven minutes from time with a controlled effort from the edge of the area.
Trading blows
The early signs were promising for Roma as El Shaarawy, one of two Giallorossi figures making their debut, was released down the left. Spotting the run of Nainggolan, the Italian pulled the ball back, but Raman Chibsah was perfectly positioned to intervene.
Frosinone were under the cosh during the opening tradings, yet their threat on the counter-attack was evident when Federico Dionisi sprung the offside trap but could not work the ball out from under his feet.
Leonardo Blanchard, who netted the Canarini’s last-gasp equaliser at the Juventus Stadium in September, was inches away from heading the visitors in front from a corner, but Ervin Zukanovic spared the home side’s blushes.
His last-ditch intervention proved even more significant when the Giallorossi opened the scoring seconds later. After Mohamed Salah was robbed of the ball as he darted inside the penalty area, Nainggolan improvised sumptuously to slip his effort under Leali and net his second goal under new boss Spalletti.
Frosinone’s response was emphatic. Unchecked as he strode forward, the mightily-impressive Chibsah ushered in Ciofani and, after the forward had rode the sliding challenge of Zukanovic, he smashed a rasping effort through the legs of Wojciech Szczesny to restore parity in the capital.
Roma tried to respond as well, Nainggolan forcing Leali into evasive action with a rocket from distance on 29 minutes.
Edin Džeko then drew a fine save from the on-loan Juventus goalkeeper after he swivelled beautifully from El Shaarawy’s measured dink into the penalty area.
Moment of magic
The second-half began intensely and the Roma fraternity were brought to their feet within minutes.
Zukanovic provided a deft cross into fellow new boy El Shaarawy who, after darting across Arlind Ajeti’s eyesight, produced the cutest of flicks at the near post to fool Leali and restore his side’s advantage.
Džeko was withdrew for Francesco Totti, who has elapsed only 20 minutes of gametime since October, on the hour mark as Spalletti’s outfit tried to safeguard their advantage.
Frosinone, though, had fought back before and when Mateo Pavlovic clipped a free-kick inches over Szczesny’s crossbar, it served as a reminder of the away side’s fighting quality.
Salah interchanged nicely with Totti on 70 minutes, but the Egyptian’s attempt was charged down by Pavlovic. Pjanic would ensure of all three points nonetheless when he latched onto the susbtitute's through ball and stroked his effort into the bottom corner.