A stellar kicking display from Matthew Morgan and two quickfire second-half tries helped Ospreys overcome a stubborn Zebre side 30-20 at Liberty Stadium.

The home crowd were stunned when Filippo Cristiano touched down early on but Morgan, who finished with six penalties and a conversion, kept chipping away.

Paolo Buso and Gonzalo Garcia collected a penalty apiece before Tyler Ardron then Duncan Jones took the game away from Zebre in the second half – despite a try from Samuela Vunisa.

The Ospreys wasted no time in taking the challenge to their Italian opponents as fly-half Morgan slammed through a penalty to start the scoring.

And a try looked to be imminent as fluid interplay between both forwards and backs saw the Welsh region close in on the goal-line – but they had to settle for another Morgan penalty.

However, the 21-year-old lost his side’s lead as Zebre’s Dries van Schalkwyk intercepted his wayward pass.

The flanker lost the ball a few metres away from the whitewash but in the ensuing scramble, Cristiano managed to dot down in the far corner before Buso kicked the extras.

Ospreys however continued to look dangerous and if not for a underthrown offload from full-back Richard Fussell, Tito Tebaldi would have been home free to crash over.

Zebre infringed at the breakdown to hand Morgan the chance to make amends on 23 minutes, and the half-back made no mistake from 40 metres out.

But in a to-and-fro battle, Buso drilled over a penalty of Zebre’s own after Ospreys conceded their second penalty of the match at the scrum.

The Italian outfit had caused Welsh teams numerous problems in the RaboDirect PRO12 this year – beating Cardiff Blues for their first-ever RaboDirect PRO12 win and holding Scarlets to a draw.

And they further extended their advantage when a penalty – this time from Garcia – sailed between the posts.

Joe Bearman sparked the Ospreys back into life, breaking the first tackle out of the scrum, before the home side elected for Morgan to do the business once more from the kicking tee.

And he made it five penalties out of five in the last action of the first half to make sure Ospreys entered the break with a two-point lead.

Ospreys appeared with a fresh sense of purpose in the second half and a slick combination from Hanno Dirksen – on his first start since November 2012 through injury – and Fussell had Zebre rocking.

And the play was finally finished off when Ardron bustled his way over for the score, though Morgan failed with his conversion.

In a matter of moments Ospreys touched down again as a Morgan breakaway launched a breathless attack eventually finished by prop Jones.

There was to be real hope for the visitors after No.8 Vunisa ploughed over the line just after the hour-mark, Garcia converting to make it a one-score game.

But another penalty brought another opportunity for the eagle-eyed Morgan, booting over five minutes before full-time as Ospreys made sure of a hard-fought victory.

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