S-PULSE 0-3 Vegalta Sendai
IAI Stadium Nihondaira, Shizuoka


S-PULSE GOALS None
YELLOW CARDS None
RED CARDS None
ATTENDANCE 15228


LINE UP

GK Rokutan
DF Kamata, Inukai, Kakuda, Matsubara
MF Musaka, Notsuda, Edamura, Shirasaki, Kaneko
FW Tese


SUBSTITUTIONS

Tiago on for Kaneko (62)
Duke on for Notsuda (72)
Murata on for Edamura (79)


REPORT

It was an afternoon of reunions for goalkeeper Rokutan, facing off with his old team Sendai for the first time since joining Shimizu. Sadly for him and his orange clad friends the day didn’t go his way, picking the ball out of his net three times. With no return for the home side, it meant S-Pulse’s three game unbeaten run was brought to a sudden halt.  

The first half was open and evenly matched, but it was the hosts who managed to rack up the most efforts on goal, albeit largely from long range. With the deadlock unbroken before the interval, Sendai took the game to the home side after the break, and their pressing produced a penalty just before the hour when Mita went to ground following Kakuda’s challenge. Crislan sent Rokutan the wrong way, and the goal was to swing the game’s momentum the way of Vegalta.

The Brazilian doubled the lead ten minutes later, stroking in a Nagato’s low cross which had successfully caught out the S-Pulse back line. An opportunity to cut the lead fell to Edamura shortly after Crislan’s second, but with the effort sailing over the bar Sendai’s advantage remained intact. Indeed, it was extended further on 74 minutes by defender Naoki Sugai, poking home the ball after a tidy passing move from the guests.

Shimizu continued to press, but there was no way back, and the 15000 plus supporters were left waiting for a home league win. Next up is former Shimizu player and manager Kenta Hasegawa’s Gamba Osaka, and will mark S-Pulse’s first visit to Gamba’s shiny new Suita Stadium. The away zone is completely sold out, so if you’re not hitting the road out west, be sure to keep up to date with the action as it happens via our Twitter service: @spulse_eng

Forza S-Pulse!


NEXT GAME

Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Match Day 10
G. Osaka vs S-PULSE
Friday May 5th, 2pm
Suita Stadium