Meiji Yasuda J1 League

Match 31

Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 Avispa Fukuoka

Saturday October 2th 1:30 pm

Best Denki Stadium, Fukuoka

S-PULSE GOALS Thiago Santana(27), Carlinhos Junior(48)

YELLOW CARDS Daiki Matsuoka(35)

RED CARDS

ATTENDANCE 6,216

LINE UP

GK Shuichi Gonda

DF Teruki Hara, Valdo, Akira Ibayashi, Eiichi Katayama

MF Daiki Matsuoka, Ronaldo, Kenta Nishizawa, Carlinhos Junior

FW Noriaki Fujimoto, Thiago Santana

SUBSTITUTIONS

Akira Silvano Disaro' on for Noriaki Fujimoto(62)

Yuito Suzuki on for Carlinhos Junior(72)

Ryo Okui on for Kenta Nishizawa(87)

Yoshinori Suzuki on Teruki Hara(87)

Ryo Takeuchi on for Ronaldo(87)

REPORT

Pride and joy!

The players heard the calls of heir fans and showed true grit and resilience!

To win away at Fukuoka was always going to be an exploit, but surprisingly enough S-Pulse dominated the game and with a little luck could have turned the game into a rout instead of having to defend with teeth and nails in the last seconds.

They had taken the reins of the game early when in the 27th minute Santana pounced on a loose ball midfield to serve Nishizawa immediately who lost it in a tumble but a lurking Fujimoto intercepted the ball to rifle a middle shoot that was only parried away into the feet of a lurking Santana for a punch goal.

Shortly after the second half kick off in the 48th minute Fujimoto wrestled a ball away from the defense to pass to Santana who again immediately sent Nishizawa on the right. The latter’s perfect lobbing cross saw Carlinhos running at full speed to reach the ball before the opposite goalkeeper and kick home in spite of being brought down accidentally by the same goalkeeper.

In the 65th minute S-Pulse was unlucky not to kill the game for good when a poor clearance ended with Matsuoka hitting the bar from long range. The rebound was shot inside goal by Disaro but it was judged off side.

It was then the turn for S-Pulse to sweat off Fukuoka’s attacks. In the 81st minute a single moment of leniency from the defense allowed Fukuoka to come within distance and S-Pulse had to dig deep into their courage and skills to contain a club which after all is ranked in the top half of the league and that on their ground.

The final whistle came after S-Pulse had managed to repulse the last assault for a deserved win which augurs well for the next game against Kashiwa Reysol next Saturday at home.

Now, if we win that particular game well within our ability the fight against relegation should be won and we can at last enjoy ourselves!

NEXT GAME

Meiji Yasuda J1 League

Match 32

Shimizu S-Pulse vs Kashiwa Reysol

Saturday October 16th 3pm

IAI Stadium Nihondaira , Shizuoka