With a midweek game on Thursday night followed by another game this morning, it was two league games in three days for U14 Lazio, bizarrely both against the same opposition, Crawley Green.

CYFL U14 Division 1
Linslade Galaxy U14 Lazio 1 - 0 Crawley Green Youth U14 Rockets

Thursday night's game was a very tight affair.

After a cagey start from both teams Crawley Green got on top and had a good period of pressure. There were a few scarey moments at the back, not least when Tycho cleared one off the line, but in the large part Lazio worked hard and defended very well. In the 10 minutes before halftime Lazio came much more into the game and had the best chance of the half when Theo's pull back was blasted just over by our centre forward for the day Caelan.

The second half was no different.

Crawley Green again applied the pressure to begin with. They looked particularly dangerous from corners but Lazio fought for their lives and managed to get blocks in and scramble everything away. There was probably only one clear chance for Crawley Green where Chris was called into action and he managed to tip the effort away.

Lazio again looked stronger as the half wore on. They came close to grabbing the lead a few times, most notably from a corner which Jelani just couldn't quite reach and then minutes later from a ball across the face of the goal which Joe got a toe to but couldn't quite poke home.

With 10 minutes or so to go and the game up for grabs, the deadlock was finally broken...in Lazio's favour. Jelani hit a lovely cross field pass to pick out Josh's run down the right flank. Josh found himself through on goal and as the keeper rushed out he coolly side footed the ball home into the far corner of the net. 1-0 Lazio.

Lazio immediately had chances to double their lead, most notably Theo came close when he met a corner perfectly but fired just over.

As the minutes ticked by however Lazio elected to hold what they had and put in a superb team effort to see the game out and secure the 1-0 win.

A great effort from all the boys, none more so than our Gartec Player of the Match Adam, who was tenacious in midfield, constantly winning the ball. Well played Adam.

CYFL U14 Division 1
Crawley Green Youth U14 Rockets 2 - 0 Linslade Galaxy U14 Lazio

Onto today's game.

Lazio nearly had a dream start as Alfie burst through on goal in the opening minute but just couldn't quite keep his effort down.

After this the game developed into another tight affair.

Crawley Green had most of the possession but chances were limited by Lazio's well drilled back four of Joe, Blake, Tycho and Oscar. The main scare came when a long range effort clipped the top of the Lazio crossbar as Chris "relax, I had it covered" Hamer watched on.

It was tough to play good football on a very hard and bouncy surface but there were some really nice passages of play from Lazio when in possession. Theo was linking up nicely with Josh and Kiro on the wings and one sweeping move from front to back nearly saw Lazio score a contender for team goal of the season.

As it turned out though, it was Crawley Green that grabbed the lead 10 minutes before halftime. Lazio were guilty of switching off for a second and got caught with a long diagonal ball upfield which the Crawley Green forward got on the end of and finished neatly. 1-0 Crawley Green.

It could have been worse as Crawley Green applied the pressure before halftime but Lazio stood strong and got into halftime just 1 down.

The second half was, l'm afraid to say, a bad tempered affair with several flash points ruining the game.

Lazio actually started the half well and were unlucky not to equalise when Josh latched onto a lofted ball forward and lifted an effort over the Crawley keeper but just the wrong side of the post.

Midway through the half Lazio's task got doubly hard as Crawley Green took advantage of an opening to make it 2-0.

Full credit to Lazio though as we kept going to the very end. The back 4 were outstanding, as were the energy levels shown by Ollie and Cyril in central midfield.

Both teams had half chances in the closing stages. Chris pulled off a couple of good stops, while Oscar made one fantastic tackle to stop a chance as the last line of defence. At the other end Theo was unlucky a couple of times, most notably from a lovely clipped ball from Alfie which just didn't quite sit down for him.

In the end though, a 2-0 defeat was the final score.

Another great effort from the 11 boys that could make it today in a game that could easily have gone our way with a bit more luck here and there.

The Gartec Player of the Match was jointly awarded to the right hand side of our defence today, with Oscar and Blake putting in huge performances, very well done both.

It's a week off for Lazio now, a chance to rest up before the final push to the end of the season on the other side of Easter.