This morning U14 Lazio welcomed AFC Dunstable to Cedars for their second league game of the season. With lots of the Dunstable squad playing, or having previously played, for Linslade teams on a Saturday, the game certainly had a familiar feel about it.

Dunstable started the game more brightly and the opening 5 to 10 minutes were largely played in the Lazio half. However it was Lazio that had the first real chance of the game. Good play between Jelani and Blake saw Blake power down the left side of the box before squaring the ball across goal. Josh Green looked certain to score at the back post but the Dunstable keeper somehow got across to block his effort. Dunstable responded by creating a few good chances of their own, but weren’t able to find the target with any of them.

Both goals were leading a charmed life and the deadlock was finally broken midway through the half when Lazio grabbed the lead. Nice play from Josh Green on the right side of the box saw him slip a through ball into Jelani, who made no mistake in riffling the ball into the bottom left corner of the net. 1-0 Lazio.

Dunstable responded well and looked set to equalise straight away but Chris made a good one on one stop. The Dunstable pressure continued as we approached half time and after a series of missed chances they finally took one to level the scores. There was an element of good fortune as Chris saved the initial effort but the ball rebounded off a few bodies before landing at the feet of the Dunstable striker to tap home. Nevertheless, a deserved equaliser for the away team and we went into halftime at 1-1.

As with the first half, Dunstable started the second half on front foot and were unlucky not to take the lead when they crashed an effort off the crossbar. It wasn’t long though before Dunstable did nudge in front as their centre midfielder ran onto a squared ball in the box and absolutely smashed the ball home to make it 2-1 Dunstable.

Lazio were looking leggy at this point but with no subs to bring on the 11 boys on the pitch had to grit their teeth and battle. The Lazio back 4 of Kingy, Tycho, Abdul and Joe were working overtime to keep Dunstable at bay and just ahead of this Theo seemed to be covering every blade of grass in midfield.

Dunstable were certainly the team creating the better chances at this point but a combination of poor finishing, some good saves from Chris and some great last ditch defending kept Lazio in the game.

The next goal was now key and although Lazio had a few decent long range efforts, in particular from Alfie and Theo, it was Dunstable that struck again 10 minutes from time to make it 3-1 and effectively seal the game.

It would have been easy for Lazio to fold in the remaining minutes but the boys kept working and created some good chances of their own. Firstly Josh Green made a great run down the right channel and played a dangerous ball across the face of the goal, but no one was there to tap it home. Then some lovely football from Lazio set Josh Rollings, who had an excellent game at left midfield, free down the left channel. The Dunstable keeper came out to smother the ball but Josh did well to win it back before jinking past a two defenders and firing narrowly wide.

With no further goals in the reaming minutes, 3-1 was how it finished.

Well played to Dunstable, they deserved the win today.

For Lazio, a tough day without any subs and in the end we just seemed to run out of steam. But the boys all put a shift in and definitely plenty of positives to take into next week.

Lots of good individual performances from Lazio today but the Gartec Player of the Match went to Theo for a stand out display in central midfield. Well done Theo.

Speaking of hardworking displays, Tony took the flag for us today, big thanks as always.