Cagliari held off a stirring second-half fightback from Lecce to record a thrilling Serie A win which lifts them away from the foot of the table and leaves their opponents in the bottom three.

Alessandro Matri scored twice in the first 15 minutes and Michele Canini added a third before half-time to put the hosts firmly in control of the game.

Ruben Olivera cut the deficit and David Di Michele raised hopes of an astonishing comeback, but the Islanders held firm to claim the three points.

They were almost in front after five minutes when Matri was denied by Antonio Rosato and Nene fired the rebound against the post.

But Lecce's reprieve was only temporary as Matri rounded Souleymane Diamoutene to open the scoring a minute later, and the same player doubled the lead in the 15th minute with a low left-footed finish from the edge of the box.

Lecce enjoyed a brief spell of pressure as home goalkeeper Michael Agazzi was forced to deal with Guillermo Giacomazzi's 15th-minute header and a similar effort from Jeda a minute later.

But Canini was left unmarked six yards out in the 28th minute to slot home the third goal.

Di Michele's 20-yard effort drew another save from Agazzi and Nene was off target at the other end as an exciting half drew to a close.

Daniele Conti shot wide as Cagliari began the second half looking for a fourth goal, but it was Lecce who quickly put themselves on the scoresheet.

Olivera rode his luck to get past Gabriele Perico before finishing from close range to make it 3-1 after 54 minutes.

Matri sought to nip the fightback in the bud, but saw one shot cleared off the line by Giulio Donati before Rosati saved his next effort.

Di Michele ensured a pulsating last 10 minutes when he was set up by Gianni Munari and fired inside the right-hand upright to cut the deficit to one.

And Agazzi had to be at his best to keep out the visitors thereafter, easily gathering Djamel Mesbah's long-range strike before making a good save from Munari's close-range header.

And he also kept his wits about him to instinctively save Olivera's deflected long-range drive in the last minute.