Miserly Inter notch eighth single-goal win of the season

MILAN (Reuters) - Miserly Inter Milan notched their eighth Serie A win of the season, all of them by single-goal margins, when they beat Torino 1-0 on Sunday with a typically cautious performance. Geoffrey Kondogbia scored with one of only two Inter shots on target in the whole game and goalkeeper Samir Handanovic was the real hero as he kept Torino at bay with a series of saves in the second half. Roberto Mancini's side, who began the weekend as joint leaders alongside Fiorentina, moved on to 27 points from 12 games, although they have scored only 12 goals and conceded seven in those matches. They have won seven games by a 1-0 scoreline and beat promoted Carpi 2-1 on the only occasion that they managed to score more than once in a game. They have also played two 1-1 draws, had one goalless stalemate and suffered a 4-1 home defeat by Fiorentina. Mancini made no apologies for his team's display. "That’s the way we needed to play to beat (Torino)," he said. "They’re a difficult side to face and the risk was that if we didn’t score it could have turned out like the match at the San Siro last year, when we dominated but ended up losing." "We have a good goalkeeper, the defence itself is defending well and the midfield and forward lines are doing a great job. It’s down to the whole team." Kondogbia put Inter ahead in the 31st minute when he volleyed in at the far post after Rodrigo Palacio headed on Yuto Nagatomo's free kick. It was Kondogbia's first goal since joining from Monaco in the close season. The goal came just after Torino's Marco Benassi had headed against the crossbar, and the hosts were to suffer more frustration in the second half. Handanovic made a superb double save to deny Fabio Quagliarella and then Andrea Belotti right at the start of the second half. Inter, with tough-tackling Gary Medel and Felipe Melo providing fearsome cover for their back line, made no attempt to attack and their Slovenian keeper was repeatedly called into action. He foiled former Napoli and Juventus forward Quagliarella twice more and also did well to intercept a dangerous Giuseppe Vives ball into the area as Inter held on fortuitously. "Keeping eight clean sheets since the start of the season is a great credit to everyone in the squad. We are all working hard and we're united as a team," Handanovic told Sky Sport Italia. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; editing by Toby Davis)