Roma head coach Gian Piero Gasperini believes "luck was not on our side" after they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Udinese in Serie A.

Jurgen Ekkelenkamp’s deflected free-kick in the 49th minute was enough to separate the two sides at Bluenergy Stadium, seeing Roma fail to move back into the top four in the Italian top-flight.

Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar made two saves in the eighth minute to deny long shots from Arthur Atta and Ekkelenkamp, while Liam Miller blasted an effort over the bar for the hosts.

Bryan Cristante thought they had found an equaliser in the final minute of normal time, but his goal was ruled out after Kostas Tsimikas was offside in the build-up.

Gianluca Mancini was then denied in the 97th minute by the fingertips of Maduka Okoye, with Roma now winless in their last three games in all competitions.

Roma have now lost four of their last six away matches in Serie A (W2), as they suffered in the previous 19 such games in the top-flight (W12 D3).

"Undoubtedly, it is never easy to play against Udinese," Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.

"We lacked precision in the final third, were unlucky by a few centimetres at the end and the goal we conceded showed luck was not on our side this evening.

"It was a very closed match, they too only had a couple of long-range attempts, otherwise it was difficult for both teams to build something.

"We were looking to do more and we didn’t manage it, but when you have five or six men in the box, that is a chance, even if we didn’t get the finish away. I feel like we did more in that sense.

"Nonetheless, we leave with our heads held high, and with the strength to keep improving ourselves."