Cagliari earned a vital three points in their battle against relegation as a brace from Duje Cop guided his side to a 3-1 victory over Fiorentina in Gianluca Festa's first game in charge of the club.

The visitors took the lead in the seventh minute when Diego Farias controlled the ball in the box and fired it across the face of goal, where Cop was on hand to divert it past Neto.

Cagliari had the chance to double their advantage when Paul-Jose M'Poku released the run of Cop through the middle, but the forward was denied by an excellent save by Neto.

Vincenzo Montella's side pressed just before the break as Alessandro Diamanti fired an effort at goal from outside the box, but his strike just shaved the outside of the post.

In the second half, the home side upped the ante as substitute Juan Vargas raided down the flank and lifted a cross into the box for Alberto Gilardino, but he could only direct his header straight at Zeljko Brkic.

The visitors doubled their lead when Cop was played through down the inside right channel and he buried a low strike into the bottom corner past the outstretched hand of Neto.

Cagliari could have netted a third goal, but Neto made a good stop to deny a shot from Farias, while Manuel Pasqual was quick to clear the rebound before Cop could pounce for his hat-trick.

Fiorentina got back into the match in the 74th minute when Vargas found space down the left and fired a shot towards goal that was diverted past Brkic by Gilardino.

Mario Gomez had the chance to level the scores when he latched on to a corner from Joaquin, but he failed to hit the target from close range.

Cagliari secured their win in stoppage time when Farias netted a spectacular goal as he raced forward from his own half before beating Nenad Tomovic with a backheel, and then fired the ball through the legs of Stefan Savic into the bottom corner.