Inter Milan's record run of 17 consecutive Serie A wins was brought to an end after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Udinese on Wednesday.

Nigerian midfielder Christian Obodo put the visitors ahead with an overhead kick two minutes into the second half, before Inter substitute Hernan Crespo headed home Maxwell's left-wing cross in the 67th minute.

Inter pressed for a winning goal, but found no way through a stubborn Udinese defence.

Udinese were also the last team to take points off Inter in the league, holding them to a 0-0 draw at the Friuli stadium last October before the reigning champions embarked on their amazing run.

Despite seeing their flawless run ended, Inter remain 14 points clear at the top of the table as second-placed Roma also drew, held 2-2 at Chievo.

Goals from Erjon Bogdani and Franco Semioli put Chievo 2-0 up before Roma captain Francesco Totti netted twice for the visitors, taking his league tally for the season to 16.

Inter, who are unbeaten in the league, have 67 points from their 25 matches played, followed by Roma on 53 points.

Inter coach Roberto Mancini said he felt no bitterness at seeing his team's winning run halted.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Mancini told SKY Italia.

"If it didn't happen today, it could have happened at the weekend. But it doesn't change anything."

Mancini insisted his players were still highly motivated in the championship race, despite their huge lead over Roma.

"The players always give their best," he said.

"Sometimes we don't play well, but I cannot criticise them for their effort."

Inter's match at the San Siro was the only one of Wednesday's 10 first division games to be played in the evening. The other nine matches all kicked-off in the afternoon as part of the Italian government's attempts to reduce the threat of crowd trouble.

The decision to reduce the number of night matches followed the death of a policeman during violence in Catania earlier this month.

The early kick-offs inevitably resulted in low attendances at most grounds.

Third-placed Palermo were held to a 0-0 draw at home to AC Milan, one of several teams chasing the fourth and final Champions league place for next season. Luck was against the visitors with Kaka seeing his seventh-minute penalty saved by Alberto Fontana and Ronaldo hitting the crossbar.

Lazio retained fourth place after late goals from Sebastiano Siviglia and Tommaso Rocchi sealed a 3-1 home win against Catania, while Empoli leapfrogged AC Milan into fifth spot with a 3-1 home victory over Messina.

Palermo have 45 points, followed by Lazio on 40, Empoli on 38 and AC Milan on 37.

The battle of the new coaches ended in a 1-0 victory for Gianni De Biasi's Torino over Marco Giampaolo's Cagliari. De Biasi and Giampaolo were both re-appointed by the struggling clubs on Monday after being sacked earlier in the season.

Reggina and Fiorentina, both docked points for their involvement in last summer's match-fixing scandal, played out a 1-1 draw and Siena against Livorno ended goalless.

Sampdoria came from behind to defeat Atalanta 2-1 and bottom club Ascoli drew 0-0 with relegation-threatened Parma.

All the matches on Wednesday afternoon were open to the public as the stadiums of the 10 home clubs have either complied with security regulations or carried out most of the work asked of them by the Interior Ministry in the wake of the Catania riot.

Those not fully complying - Ascoli, Chievo and Empoli - were only allowed to open their gates to season-ticket holders.

(China Daily via AFP March 2, 2007)