Monza continue their rise up the Serie A standings with victory at lowly Spezia
Spezia came into the game with just one win from their last 13 league matches (D6, L6) but started the match strongly.
Aquilotti had a golden chance to take the lead when the ball dropped to Viktor Kovalenko inside the penalty area after 18 minutes, but the Ukrainian’s volley was kept out by a strong save from Michele Di Gregorio.
However, Monza came into the contest in excellent form and made Spezia regret missing such a big chance just three minutes later when wing-back Patrick Ciurria cut inside onto his left foot before rifling a wonderful shot in off the inside of the post.
The visitors came out strongly at the start of the second half looking to maintain their impressive record against the current bottom-five SA sides this term (W4, D4).
Monza very nearly doubled their lead after 55 minutes when a chipped cross was headed towards his own goal by Kovalenko, but Bartlomiej Dragowski was on hand to spectacularly tip the ball over the bar.
As the encounter approached the closing stages, the home side struggled to muster a chance of any real quality to trouble Di Gregorio, with the Monza defence standing firm.
Monza even managed to add another goal in added time, as Carlos Augusto rounded off a swift counterattack by slotting the ball beyond Dragowski.
The away side managed to see the game out with relative ease, climbing into the top half of the table as they look to end their first season in Italy’s top flight in style.
Meanwhile, Spezia continue to face the prospect of relegation to Serie B, as they sit in 17th just one point above the bottom three, having now played a game more ahead of the weekend's fixtures.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Patrick Ciurria (Monza)