Bari were denied their second away win of the season by a fortunate Sampdoria, who risked losing their second game in five days, but were relieved to hold onto a goalless draw.

The Blucerchiati's unlikely title challenge has faltered over recent weeks and they risked losing their unbeaten home record to a plucky Bari side.

A goalless draw was long on the cards and the only threat to it was a last-gasp penalty for the visitors, but Paolo Barreto sent the spot-kick wide.

And a Leonardo Bonucci goal was wrongly ruled out for offside deep into stoppage time as the final whistle brought more relief to the home side than the visitors.

Samp coach Luigi Delneri welcomed Angelo Palombo back into his midfield, where Daniele Franceschini was also given a rare start with Reto Ziegler reverting to full-back instead of Marius Stankevicius.

Former Samp striker Vitali Kutuzov was selected in Giampiero Ventura's side despite not quite being 100% fit with Riccardo Meggiorini left on the bench as Barreto returned to the starting XI.

Antonio Cassano had the first chance of the game in the fourth minute when he cut out a poor pass in the midfield and tested Jean-Francois Gillet with a shot that the Bari goalkeeper was able to push wide.

Antonio Langella came closer to putting Bari ahead in the 13th minute with a header onto the roof of the net after meeting Edgar Alvarez's deep cross.

Pazzini had a shot deflected wide after being found by a delightful chip into the area by Cassano.

Pazzini then tried an overhead kick which was probably heading wide before Daniele Mannini headed it in, albeit from a clear offside position.

Barreto tried his luck from 23 yards, but Luca Castellazzi got down low to deny him and ensure both sides went in at the break level.

Cassano and Mannini both tested Gillet with angled shots in the 51st minute with the Belgian goalkeeper fumbling the first, but holding onto the second.

At the other end, Bari had a gilt-edged chance to take the lead when Alvarez was given acres of space to run into the penalty area with just Castellazzi to beat, but the highly-rated Samp goalkeeper made himself large and thwarted the Bari winger.

Samp had their second goal of the game ruled out for offside when Cassano threaded the ball inside Gillet's post, but the assistant was right again.

Samp, who had won their previous five home games this season, seemed like they would not only lose that record, but also their unbeaten one at the Luigi Ferraris when a penalty was awarded in the last minute.

Meggiorini touched the ball past Castellazzi, who caught his leg and could have no complaints. But Barreto placed his spot-kick wide of the post.

There was another chance for Bari to win it in the sixth minute of stoppage time, and this time they were unfortunate to see Bonucci's goal wrongly ruled out for offside.

The goal should have stood, earning Bari all three points, but in the end both sides had to settle for a share of the spoils in a game which reserved all its drama for stoppage time at the end of the 90 minutes.