SS Lazio moved up to fifth place in the Serie A standing following their 2-1 victory over Cagliari, on Monday night.

It was a game Lazio dominated and were ahead inside the opening two minutes through Salernitana Senegalese loanee, Boulaye Dia.

But the hosts were pegged back before the break when Cagliari’s Angolan youngster, Zito Luvumbo brought his side back in the game.

Lazio head coach, Marco Baroni made several changes in he second half including hr introduction of Mattia Zaccagni, to add verve to his team’s attack and it paid off.

Cagliari had been inconsistent in their last five games and had lost back to back games, prior Monday’s fixture.

Their sins would eventually catch up to them and in the 76th minute Zaccagni converted from the spot to restore Lazio’s lead.

It went from bad to worse for Cagliari as they had two players sent off, and they had a game to chase.

Yeri Mina and Michel Adopo were both sent off, within seconds of each other, for second bookings, creating an almost insurmountable situation for their team.

Baroni seized the initially and made two more changes, bringing on fresh legs, including Nigeria’s Fisayo Dele-Bashiru in the final 10 minutes of regular play.

The Nigerian midfielder came on for only his fourth league appearance this season, replacing goal scorer Dia in the 80th minute.

It was a game that had already been won and lost, and a predominantly home fans among the 70,634 spectators at the Stadio Olimpico cheered when the final whistle went off.

Another three points in the bag, their third league win on the bounce, and the fourth in five games sees them climb to within points of league leaders Napoli.