Brian of Nazareth

Matchday 10 H v Holly Hock, Sunday 29th April

4-4-2: Takahashi; Morikawa, Ricardo, Gaya, Saito; Yamada, Miller Ruiz Diaz, Kobayashi; Fujiyoshi Segawa


The young forward did indeed earn a place on the bench, as Rodrigo was dropped altogether in favour of Segawa - offered his carrot, whilst there was a welcome return for Gaya at the back line, with Charlie Miller back in the midfield as the side hoped to end this little run against FC Mito Holly Hock, a side who had been consistently inconsistent this year.

With a spring in his step, Makoto Segawa seemed to appreciate his start in this match as his early running proved a constant threat on the visitors goal, a side who seemed content just to try and play for a draw in this match. Chances were at a premium as a result of this and despite various runs from both forwards, the defence of Holly Hock held out initially. In the latter stages of the half, chances did begin to start to develop, and Kobayashi created an opening for Morikawa but the defender blazed a hurried shot over the cross bar.

The second half did prove to be a more exciting affair than the tight one that preceded it, as both Fujiyoshi and Saito both forced extended saves from Tomoaki Sano. However the visitors were still a robust outfit and they drew confidence as the score continued to remain 0-0, and having tested Takahashi with a long range effort from Kitahara on the hour mark, they did indeed open the scoring when the same players' next effort was only parried by the goalkeeper to the feet of Kitagawa who finished with ease as the home fans couldn't believe their side were suddenly unable to halt the slide, as Sagano was also taken off injured for the visitors. At this point young Seiki Aizawa came on for Makoto Segawa for his first appearance of the season.

As Holly Hock tightened up further it took a great deal of pressure before further progress could be made and frustration in the inability to get forward affected the players, including defender Ricardo and with 12 minutes remaining a professional foul on Kitagawa, who had already evaded Gaya, saw a red card brandished in his direction and hopes of a point at the minimum seemed to diminish. However the two subs, Koji Nakajima, and Seiki Aizawa had other ideas - and it was their fresh impetus which saved Vegalta in this match. In the very final minute of the stoppage time a long and pacey run from the left winger, ended with a pinpoint cross and a flashing header for the young striker - delighted with his first goal under Jeff's charge.

That brought extra time, but tired legs saw both teams content to settle for a point - as Jeff ended his winning run and had seen his young talent take the opportunity, and Holly Hock had stabilised their position in the table.

Vegalta Sendai 1 FC Mito Holly Hock Aizawa 90; Kitagawa 62

T!mbo

Enjoyable reading once again Brian-san.

Hiroyuki Matsumoto's English is progressing well, what with him understanding the "dangling carrot" concept

Brian of Nazareth

Yes, well he had to learn otherwise he'd have been fired really.

oh and though I know there's been a bit of a pause, but I also have revision and exams coming up so after the weekend this might not be updated for a good few weeks, but it won't be abandoned

Matchday 11 H v Consodole Sapporo, Wednesday 2nd May 6410, Drizzle

4-4-2: Takahashi; Morikawa, Ricardo, Gaya, Saito; Nakajima, Miller Ruiz Diaz, Kobayashi; Fujiyoshi Rodrigo

On a rainy windswept evening, Jeff tried to focus on accentuating his side's strengths - by playing directly to them for the visit of Consodole Sapporo, a very mid table side. Stopping this winless run was imperative to prevent a loss of confidence. There were plenty of fans in attendance for this encounter, all cheering the side on, and more shirts could be seen visibly portraying various names, though a fair few still held more renowned figures such as Ronaldo, Michael Owen and of course David Beckham. Hopefully, Jeff thought - they'd become a barely visible minority by the seasons' end.

The first half couldn't have started any worse however, when inside 100 seconds after Fujiyoshi had a decent penalty appeal turned down, their goalkeeper Masahiro Matsuda cleared the ball quickly to his central defender Tabuchi, who's long ball found Takagi, their midfielder having avoided the challenge of Gaya, played it square to the advancing Tabuchi who had been left unmarked, and the defender's cross found Yugoslav midfielder Stolica who put it in the back of the net. It was a fairly dismal goal to concede but Vegalta at least tried to respond positively, as Rodrigo forced a save from Matsuda within a minute of the goal. The game, whilst an open match was still essentially a battle between Rodrigo and Takagi who were the orchestrators of any goalmouth action. Rodrigo excelled indeed in then ruining it completely by not even shooting within ten yards of goal.

At 1-0 down at the interval Jeff was left trying to fire up his troops and he started by advocating a far more physical approach to the match. The players were certainly not closing down well enough in the first period, and would need to win that battle if they were to get back into this match. Within minutes and Takagi had indeed been baited into a crude challenge that earned him a yellow card, as an interminably boring match seemed to peter out into a very lacklustre defeat, as Sapporo just sat back and waited for the final whistle. Fortunately, their horrific tactics were ruined in the 87th minute. Zaizen, who had replaced Ruiz Diaz, played in fellow sub Manabu Nakamura, and the midfielder's legs were given a bit of a whack by Matsuda. The penalty was amazingly converted by Rodrigo- who must have learned where the goal actually was. Congratulations Rodrigo.

In the over time period to try and find a winner it was all one way traffic as Vegalta fans sensed an inevitable goal, unless Rodrigo had the ball, but alas it appeared the rest of the team had suffered some form of brain damage preventing them firing a ball goalbound with any degree of accurcay. When I say "goalbound" I use it in the loosest possible sense of the word. However, the side were still in 3rd place and there was time to get back on track before the month break in June.

Vegalta Sendai 1 FC Consodole Sapporo 1 Rodrigo pen 87; Stolica 2

T!mbo

Another late goal :eek:

Good to see you've got your priorities straight. Good luck with the exams :thup: