Lazio hungry for victories

Lazio coach Vladimir Petkovic was pleased with his team’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Sampdoria in the Serie A on Saturday.

A first-half goal from Brazilian Hernanes was all they needed to win as Lazio extended their unbeaten streak to 11 matches.

The Rome-based club enter the winter break in second on the Serie A table, eight points behind table-toppers Juventus.

“I’m very happy with today’s performance,” Petkovic said.

“It was a hard-won victory but we remained well-organized on the pitch as a group and didn’t leave a single chance to our opponent in the second half.

“The only fault could be that we had to close the game earlier, otherwise anything can happen. We can surely play better and with more qualities than we did today, but we were great as a team. “

When asked to reflect on the first half of the season, Petkovic targeted fixtures on the road as an area for improvement.

“We definitely need to improve our performances in away matches, like at the beginning of the season and right now before the break,” Petkovic said.

“I hope we can grow from this point of view in 2013, it will be essential if we want to remain on top, we will have the chance to prove we can make it.”

Although Lazio sit second, they are only four points above the sixth-placed Roma in a congested battle for the European spots.