J2 - round 28 results

Shonan Bellmare Roasso Kumamoto 4-1
S: Ishihara 41’, Kato 64’,Kikuchi 77’, Mitsuhira 89'
R: Komorida 14’

Shonan had few problems beating a poor Roasso side at home this round, and took a comfortable 4-1 win. It could have been more, as Shonan dominated from start to finish almost. However, it was the visitors that took a some what surprising lead, when in-form midfielder Komorida scored his 3rd goal in the last 4 matches after only 14 minutes. Komorida were beautifully flicked through, and although the GK saved his first effort he were quick to head in the rebound. But although Roasso put all their men in defence after the early goal, Shonan didn’t had too much trouble getting to chances, and finally equalized 4 minutes before half-time, through FW Ishihara on a well-placed header. That was Ishihara’s 12th goal this season, which means he’s 3rd in the goalscoring rank. The 2nd half looked pretty much the same as the first, with Shonan putting Roasso under an enormous amount of pressure. Kato made it 2-1 in the 64th minute from the penalty-spot, before Kikuchi added another with a well-taken shot from distace in the 77th minute. Youngster Mitsuhira, who only made his 4th ever appearance as a sub sealed the win for Shonan with his last-minute goal, a spectacular back-heel kick that looped over the goalkeeper. Shonan had 23 shots to Roasso’s 7, and it was fully deserved. Shonan are in decent form now, and not too many points behind the other promotion candidates. Roasso however, only have Tokushima below them in the table
Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rb82uh0cog

Yokohama FC Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-2
Y: Ikemoto 65’
S: Aoyama 63’, Kubo 79’
Sanfrecce took their 4th win in a row when they beat struggling Yokohama 2-1 away this round, and it was fully deserved as well. Yokohama have taken only 2 points in their last 5 matches, and are just a few points above the bottom-placed teams. They played well on occasions here though, but all in all Yokohama were deserved winners. The first half were quite slow, with Sanfrece lying low, and Yokohama struglging to get past the sturdy defence. They got off to a few shots from distance though, but it never really troubled the goalkeeper. Sanfrecce opted for counter-attacks and the long-ball pass, and it proved a bit more effective than Yokohama’s tactic. In the 63rd minute Aoyama took advantage of an error from Yokohama’s Yamada, and put the visitors in the lead. But just 2 minutes later Ikemoto equalized with a powerful shot, and the teams were deadlocked again. As the match wore out, both teams decided to threw on their veteran striker, with Yokohama fielding Miura and Sanfrecce Kubo. Kubo probably have alot more gas left in the tank compared to Miura, and the former NT-striker scored the winning goal with a nice header 11 minutes from full time. Yokohama had 11 shots to Sanfrecce’s 17.

Mito Hollyhock Avispa Fukuoka 2-3
M: Arata 47’, Suzuki 53’
A: Okubo 15’, 75’, Jogo 40’

Mito and Avispa battled it out this round in a very closely contested battle that could have gone either way. It was the in-form visitors that ended up as winners though, and took their 4th win in a row which means they are only 9 points behind 2nd placed Montedio. A remarkable recovery in other words, and Avispa’s season doesn’ look doomed after-all...
Avispa got off to a great start this match, as FW Okubo hammered in the opening goal in the 15th minute. Just before the break, Jogo doubled the lead, and things looked hard for Mito regarding the 2nd half.But their coach must have said something good in the break, as Mito came out looking much better suddenly, and within 8 minutes they had scored twice to equalize Avispa’s lead. In-form Arata scored the first, before Suxuki added another minutes later.
After this, the match opened up, with both teams coming to chances. With a bit more luck, it could have been Mito that scored the winning goal, but instead Okubo became the man of the match with his 2nd goal for Avispa that sealed the win for the visitors. With Mito having 11 shots to Avispa’s 10, it could have gone both ways.

Sagan Tosu Ventforet Kofu 2-1
S: Fujita 48’, 75’
V: Maranhao 69’

Sagan beat in-form Kofu 2-1 at home in a very close and entertaining encounter, that just as easily could have ended up with a win for Kofu. The visitors had most of the chances actually, and even blew a penalty-kick that probably would have changed the outcome of the match. The first half were not too entertaining, but with Sagan looking slighty the better team, few were surprised when they took the lead just 3 minutes into the 2nd half. Fujita were fouled just outside the box, and converted the free-kick himself to make it 1-0. Kofu tried to respond immediately though, and got to several chances. Before they finally equalized in the 69th minute through new FW Maranhao, they had among other things missed a PK. Now, suddenly Kofu looked the most likely winner, but Sagan bounced back and Fujita added his 2nd just minutes after the equalizer. With Sagan having 10 shots to Kofu’s 15, perhaps the visitors deserved atleast a draw. With the win, Sagan are as high as 3rd now, and things are looking good with regards to promotion.

Vegalta Sendai FC Gifu 1-1
V: Hirase 63’
G: Katagiri 5’

Gifu are drawing alot of matches at the moment, as 6 of their last 11 matches have ended a draw. They’ve beeb playing some good football though, with the problem being to kill matches off when they are in the lead, or on a more general aspect convert their chances. Either way, 1-1 away against one of the favorites for promotion is absolutely a good result. Vegalta have the similar problem as Gifu have, and are in fact the team with the most draws so far. They’ve only lst 5 though, so they’re still up there among the frontrunners for promotion. Gifu got off to a great start, as FW Katagiri had the honour of finishing off a beautiful attack by Gifu, where they displayed brilliant 1-2 passing and nice overlapping to set up Katagiri for the shot. A shock start for Vegalta, who then faced a difficult task equalizing against a defensively oriented Gifu side. They came to alot of chances though, but most of them were shots from poor positions, and never really looked threatening for Gifu. Gifu on their hand went for quick counters, and had some chances on their own.
Veteran-striker and Vegalta’s topscorer this season Hirase came to the rescue once again for Vegalta, as he scored a good goal after being set up nicely by Tamura. 1-1, and now both teams were chasing the lead. As it happened, Vegalta came closest the winning goal, but in the end the teams shared the spoils, and Vegalta drew their 3rd match in a row. Vegalta had 19 shots to Gifu’s 10.

Montedio Yamagata Thespa Kusatsu 1-0
M: Hasegawa 53’

Thespa’s good run seems to be over, as they’ve only taken 2 points in their last 4 matches now. That means they’ve fallen a few points behind the other teams in the run for promotion, and their chances of getting back into it seems small. Montedio on the other hand, managed to win on what wasn’t a particular good day for them, and that’s a strong sign. They currenty lie in a comfortable 2nd, although with a game in hand on the others.
It was a tough match, with alot of rough play and also chances at both ends. Montedio’s striker Rychelly received 2 yellow cards within 7 minutes midway through the 2nd half, which meant the home team had to play with only 10 players for over an hour. Thespa got Beum Son-Jeon sent off too, but not before in the dying minutes of the 2nd half. Thespa got off to the best start, and created several chances in the opening minutes. They opted for the long ball towards the striker, and for a while it seemed like a good tactic. Montedio made a few adjustments later on though, which limited Thespa’s chances. The only goal of the game came 8 minutes into the 2nd half, when Hasegawa exploited a big errror from Thespa’s GK Honda, and easily scored the 1-0 goal. Despite heavure pressure from Thespa later on, Montedio managed to keep a clean sheet and took a very important 1-0 win. Montedio had 13 shots to Thespa’s 18.

Ehime FC Tokushima Vortis 1-0
E: Oki 64’
The Shikoku-derby are usually very intense, with alot of atmosphere and tough play, and this time it was no difference. It was a highly entertaining match, where both teams came up with chances, and looked eager to beat their rival. Tokushima got off to the best start, and had several big chances in the early stages of the match. They’ve bought 2 new brazilians, which both were highly involved in Tokushima’s offensive play this match. Especially the new striker Sosa, who blew 5 big chances for his team. He managed to find the net once though, only to see it correctly disallowed. Ehime didn’t really produce much in the first half, but were by far the best in the 2nd. Susume Oki became the match-winner with a nice goal in the 64th minute, after MF Akai beautifully set him up with a through-ball. Ehime controlled the rest of the match, and in the end it was a deserved win. Tokushima might feel they deserved a draw though, but they can only blame themselves for not being able to find the net. Ehime had 12 shots to Tokushima’s 8.
Highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EligokNBO20