J2 League

Game 3

Shimizu S-Pulse 1-4 V-Varen Nagasaki

Sunday March 10th, 2:00 pm

Transcomos Stadium (Isahaya)

S-PULSE GOALS Inui (55)

YELLOW CARDS Kitazume (55). Nishihara (80)

RED CARDS

PENALTY KICK

ATTENDANCE 6924

LINE UP

GK Gonda,

DF Yamahara, Hasukawa, Takahashi, Kitazume

MF Carlinhos, Nakamura, Inui, Miyamoto, Matsuzaki

FW Kitagawa

SUBSTITUTIONS

Braga on for Maatsuzaki (64)

Nishihara on for Carlinhos (70)

Shirasaki on for nakamura (71)

Yoshida on for Kitazume (81)

Yajima on for Miyamoto (81)

REPORT

A match to forget, ain’t it?

On a day when we dominated possession, shots at goal and corner kicks, how did we manage to lose this game so badly?

The sudden absence of right back Hara cannot explain the tame errors committed by the defense.

In the 10th minute the defense watched a throw-in being easily relayed into a dangerous cross but the last heading luckily flew directly to Gonda.

In the 25th minute the first blunder on a long ball shot forward occurred when the last defender and goal keeper completely missed out to allow the easiest of goals to the opposition.

In almost the next minute we managed to squander a good attack which ended up with the perfect cross missed by everyone and the rebound shot wide over the bar.

The soft goal we conceded in the 30th minute resumed the whole game. A good attack by Inui was intercepted due to poor control by the last forward. Once again, the ball was kicked downfield for the whole defense missing not once but twice to clear the ball to allow another silly counterpunch.

To make things worse we had a great chance to score in extra time in the first half after a good attack unfortunately marred by another poor finish.

The difference between the two teams’ finishing on the day became glaring when in the 50th minute we had a similar chance following a counter attack from a corner kick ending up with an advantage in numbers to see a great opportunity hopelessly wasted again.

In the 56th minute Inui gave us a glimpse of hope with a middle range low shot that squeezed within the far post, but to no avail when in the 66th minute our defense was completely caught flat-footed on a corner kick and in the 85th minute the defense played like schoolboys against another attack started from a long clearance.

We were simply victims of our own complacency and woeful clumsiness, the more surprising after such a good start of the season.

It is time to refloat the boat and play to our potential next game at home against Oita Trinita!

At least we play in front of very large crowds at home!

NEXT GAME

J2 League

Game 4

Shimizu S-Pulse vs Oita Trinita

Saturday March 16th, 2:00 pm

IAI Nihondaiara Stadium (Shizuoaka)