Empoli showed great character to fight back from 2-0 down for a 2-2 draw away to Cesena.

This was an early relegation dogfight, as both teams were promoted from Serie B over the summer. The Tuscans had lost both outings without scoring a goal, but the Sea Horses beat Parma before being out-classed 3-0 by Lazio.

Levan Mchedlidze, Tonelli and Laurini were injured and Massimo Maccarone only fit for the bench, so Manuel Pucciarelli was given a shot in attack. Cesena missed Riccardo Cazzola, Andrea Tabanelli, De Feudis and Nico Pulzetti.

This fixture had been played only once in Serie A, 1-1 back in April 1988, but Empoli won at the Manuzzi last season.

The visitors had a great chance after three minutes, but Daniele Rugani aimed his free header too close to Nicola Leali. Simone Verdi also went close, the Milan-owned trequartista’s snapshot skimming the woodwork, while Tavano wasted a counter-attack.

Guido Marilungo should’ve scored for Cesena on 27 minutes, but his header from a splendid Franco Brienza cross was beaten off the line by goalkeeper Luigi Sepe.

Cesena were growing in intensity and eventually took the lead. It was a chaotic move, as Brienza forced a save out of Sepe, Marilungo turned the rebound on to the crossbar and it came back to the striker for a tap-in.

Moments later it was 2-0, as Gregoire Defrel unleashed a sudden strike from distance that bounced right in front of Sepe into the corner.

Empoli threatened to get one back before half-time, but Massimo Volta came sliding in and could only turn it on to the side-netting.

Straight after the restart, the referee awarded a penalty for Lucchini blocking off Verdi in the box, a collision that left the defender with a nasty bruise to his thigh. Tavano sent Leali the wrong way to convert and score Empoli’s first goal of the 2014-15 season. It was also Tavano’s first Serie A strike since April 2010.

Pucciarelli trapped the ball and spun round, but only scuffed it at Leali from six yards. The goalkeeper also flew for a one-handed save under the bar on Verdi’s curler, but from that corner it was 2-2 as Rugani got the final touch to fire in.

Empoli had most of the possession, but Cesena threatened to win it 3-2 at the 89th minute with Mario Rui crucially preventing a Volta tap-in.