Udinese coach Gabriele Cioffi has praised Zimbabwe international wingback, Jordan Zemura for his current form which has seen him assume a place among the starting XI after spending much of the first half of the Italian Serie A season warming the bench.
Cioffi believes Zemura, who has played more as a left-sided midfielder than left-back, is improving as he became the first Zimbabwean to score a goal in the Serie A this coming on his debut season.
"(Kingsley Ehizibue and Jordan Zemura) are playing well. They're worrying Joao Ferreira and Festy Ebosele and that's important. I thought they maintained the same quality that they showed against Juve," said Cioffi.
Zemura scored a brilliant goal -- his first in the Serie A -- from just inside the box as Udinese drew 1-1 at home to Cagliari in a Serie A match on Sunday, another share of the spoils after a goalless draw in the reverse fixture.
The 24-year-old ventured into enemy territory unmarked on the left and, on getting to the end of an otherwise poor cross, he smashed a right-footer into the roof of the net in the 14th minute for a debut goal in one of the top domestic leagues in Europe after his move from English Premiership side, Bournemouth.
Zemura, who played his 18th match of the season, was taken out in the 65th minute and earned a man-of-the-match rating of 8.8 out of 10 on the Soccerway website on a day he registered his first goal involvement with the club .
He had a decent game in the previous week's sensational 1-0 win away to title-chasing Juventus and Udinese have now gone for three unbeaten matches as the battle for survival continues.
The draw on Sunday however, did not help Udinese's cause in their fight against relegation.
With 23 points from 25 games, Udinese are 15th in the 20-team Serie A and just three points above 18th-placed Verona, who currently occupy the final relegation slot.
Cioffi was not satisfied with the one point earned after Sunday's match against Cagliari.
"We created lots of chances that we should've converted. Their first-half goal cut our legs from under us. It's hard to pin the responsibility on one person. Gianluca Gaetano made a great run and got his head under it perfectly. We shut off in the second half. We didn't rise to the occasion despite the fact we had numerous chances to wrap the game up.
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"Some of them were still in the changing room during the second half. We can't have that. I sensed some doubt and doubt doesn't allow you to attack. Those who were subbed on did their job. It didn't have as much of an effect as it should have.
"If we came back from Turin with a point and won today, then we'd be in the same situation. We shouldn't pat ourselves on the back. We could've pushed Cagliari down and created some breathing room in the table.
The aim now is to bring three points home from Genoa."
Of the 25 Serie A matches by Udinese this season, Zemura made the team on 21 occasions and was in the starting line-up on nine occasions, a second-half substitute on nine occasions, and an unused substitute on three matches.
He missed four matches between Week 16 on December 17 and Week 19 on January 7 due to injury and then sat on the bench on Week 20 and 21, came in as a substitute for the last 14 minutes on Week 22 and then started in the next three matches which yielded two draws and a win.
In the only other match he did not play, Zemura was an unused substitute on Week Four on September 17 last year when Udinese settled for a goalless draw away to Cagliari.
Zemura only played as a left-back on three occasions between Week Two and Week Five while the rest of his appearances were as a left-sided midfielder.
He has not lasted the entire 90 minutes so far this season with his longest match being 88 minutes in the 3-3 draw at home to Verona on December 3 last year when he also earned his only yellow card to date.
Zemura's shortest match was against Lecce on October 23 when he played for just one minute in a 1-1 draw.
