After the excitement of last week’s County Cup semi-final U15 Lazio were back to league action today with a very tough away trip to Luton to face high flying Crawley Green.

Straight away it became clear that conditions would play a huge part in the game, with a bobbly pitch and a strong cross wind combining to make free-flowing football tough. Both teams adapted accordingly and a tight scrap of a game with chances at a premium followed.

The first half was nip and tuck. Both teams battled extremely hard and had a lot of half chances from corners or long throws but just couldn’t quite get a clean shot away. Both teams were looking to release the pace they had up front but in general weren’t quite finding the right ball. That said, there were three good chances in the half, two of which came Lazio’s way. Firstly Josh Green’s persistence saw him make something of a long ball forward and he was unlucky to see his low shot go inches wide with the keeper beaten. Secondly Josh Green turned provider when he broke down the right side of the box before squaring across the face of the goal. Theo was there and looked set to tap home but on the bobbly surface he needed a touch to set himself, which just took him a little wide of the goal and in the end he wasn’t quite able to wrap his foot around the ball, seeing his left foot effort go narrowly wide. In between these two near misses Crawley Green had their best chance of the half when their striker raced clean through on goal but Thomas stood up to the task with a fine save.

0-0 at halftime.

The second half couldn’t have started better for Lazio who broke the deadlock within 5 minutes. The Crawley Green keeper came to clear a through ball but, after the ball took a nasty bobble on the surface, the clearance was sliced up in the air. Sher and Josh Green were immediately in there trying to win the ball, which ended up at the feet of Theo, just outside the box dead central. With the keeper still out of position Theo coolly chipped the ball over him and into an empty net, a very calm finish in a sea of chaos. 1-0 Lazio.

The remainder of the half saw Crawley Green push hard for an equaliser without creating too many clear chances. There were spells of pressure but collectively as a team Lazio stood up to the task superbly. Thomas was kept busy collecting through balls, crosses and showed good handling on some awkward long-range efforts, but he wasn’t called into action for any saves of note.

Although playing more on the break, it was actually Lazio that were still creating the better chances. Josh Green showed good pace to get himself through on goal down the right hand channel but he couldn’t keep his effort down. The same applied when Lazio had a chance from an indirect free kick in the box after the Crawley keeper handled a back pass. Blake tapped to Josh Green but his effort was high. Blake then created another chance with a driving run down the right wing followed by a cut back for Sher who looked set to smash the ball home but agonisingly his shot went the wrong side of the crossbar.

The last 8 minutes or so were made harder as Lazio had to play with 10 men following a sin bin. This made for a nervy finish, what we have we hold, let’s see the game out. And that’s exactly what the boys did, to a man showing great spirit to keep the door firmly shut and secure a well-earned 1-0 win.

Really well done to the boys today. It might not have been pretty on the eye at times but to grind out a win in those conditions against strong opposition like Crawley Green was one of the most satisfying performances of the season and showed real team spirit.

Given the above comments it will be no surprise that the Gartec Player of the Match was a particularly tough call this week. The defence - who by the way have now kept 4 clean sheets in the last 5 games – were excellent today, Tycho in particular seemed to be everywhere. However, Josh Green got the nod for the award this week for his tireless running up front which kept the Crawley Green defenders on their toes for the entire game. Well done Josh.

Steve and Will braved the wind to pick up the lino’s flag this week, much appreciated as always.