The result allowed Claudio Ranieri`s men to leapfrog the Rossoblu by a point as the battle to avoid the drop intensifies.

Igor Budan`s first-half goal was cancelled out by Daniele Conti midway through the second, before Andrea Gasbarroni settled the home fans` nerves from the penalty spot.

Conti was shown a second yellow card after the final whistle by continuing his protests with referee Stefano Farina.

Budan had the first chance of the match with a firm shot from 12 yards that skimmed the post of Antonio Chimenti`s goal.

His team-mate Giuseppe Rossi then showed his class with a powerful drive from 35 yards that had Chimenti backpedalling before making the save.

The on-loan Manchester United striker then turned provider for the game`s opening goal in the 28th minute.

Rossi`s pass found Budan in space in the area and, having drawn Chimenti, Croatia international Budan coolly finished into the corner.

Cagliari, hitherto non-existent as an attacking force, had an equalising goal cancelled out when Simone Pepe was adjudged to have put the ball in the net from an offside position.

Moments before the interval, Parma could have made it 2-0 when Zlatan Muslimovic drove hard from just outside the box and was unlucky to see his shot bounce back off the post.

The Gialloblu continued to dominate possession after half-time, but were almost caught out by the first Cagliari break of the second period.

Davide Marchini swung over a good cross for Pepe, but he completely fluffed his header when well placed in the area.

Shortly after Domenico Morfeo and Daniele Cigarini combined for the latter to shoot too close to Chimenti, Cagliari stunned the home fans with the leveller in the 64th minute.

Conti worked himself some space on the edge of the area and curled a beautiful shot around the despairing dive of the otherwise redundant Luca Bucci.

Chastened by the goal, Parma came back strongly and were pressing hard for the equaliser when Paolo Bianco handled in the area.

Gasbarroni stepped up and made no mistake from 12 yards.

From then on, Parma sat on their lead, happy to protect what they had, and Cagliari were not able to trouble their defence.

Pepe had a half-chance as the clock ticked down, but shot too close to Bucci and Parma saw out time to lift themselves to 13th in the table with a third straight win.

Claudio Ranieri again chose to use Vince Grella sparingly as he eases him back from injury. Grella was brought on as a 79 minute substitute for Luca Cigarini.

A third straight defeat for Marco Giampaolo`s men saw them tumble to 16th with four games to go, and the fiery Conti`s indiscipline now rules him out of next week`s home clash against Udinese.