Rome: Lazio fell to a 1-0 loss at home to Genoa and missed the chance to move fourth in Serie A on Monday after playing most of the match in 10 men.
The capital side remained sixth following a second successive defeat, two points and a place above Genoa, which arrested its slide down the table with its first win in eight rounds.
"Results aren't going our way at the moment," Lazio coach Stefano Pioli said. "I can't reproach the lads at all for their performances. Now's the moment to be united and to believe in what we are doing because we have good qualities.
"It was a balanced match, we had 10 players but we could still have drawn. I'm upset for the team because they wanted to forget last Sunday's defeat at Cesena, but we come out of this with a lot of determination."
The match turned shortly before the half-hour mark when Lazio goalkeeper Federico Marchetti was sent off following a rash challenge on M'Baye Niang.
Replacement keeper Etrit Berisha's first act was to pick the ball out of his net after Diego Perotti coolly slotted the penalty into the bottom right corner.
Genoa should have sealed the match early in the second half when Niang sent Iago Falque clear on goal, but the Spaniard fired narrowly past the right upright.
It was almost made to rue its missed opportunities as Lazio went close to leveling when Stefano Mauri was sent through by Miroslav Klose, but the captain hit the right post.
"We played well but we weren't very clinical and in the future we need to be if we want to remain up there," Genoa coach Giampiero Gasperini said. "It was an important win after picking up so few points in the last few matches."
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