FC Gifu kept their second clean sheet of the 2019 season, but had to settle for a draw against J2 newcomers Kagoshima United last Sunday, by Stuart Smith

FC Gifu starting XI: Victor, Yanagisawa, Abe, Takeda, Nagakura, Mishima, Miyamoto, Nagashima, Kazama, Yamagishi, De Vries

 

Manager Takeshi Oki made one change from the team which beat Fagiano Okayama the previous week, with Hayate Nagakura replacing Yuki Aizu at left back.

 

It was a cold day, with very changeable weather conditions as the game kicked off, and it was immediately clear that it was going to be hard fought. The majority of the game took place in the middle of the pitch, and there weren’t many clear cut chances until the 27th minute, when FC Gifu goalkeeper Victor did well to save from Kagoshima forward Han Yong-thae. Gifu tried to get back in the game with Yushi Nagashima getting on the ball often and trying to create things. The home side did create a couple of half-chances before Kagoshima ‘keeper Shogo Onishi was forced into his first real save in the 41st minute. Good, direct running from Ryan De Vries, allied with a clever decoy run from Yuya Yamagishi, left Koya Kazama in space on the left edge of the penalty area. Kazama cut inside on to this right foot aiming to curl the ball into the far corner, but Onishi palmed the ball away at full stretch. Half time came, and few would have argued that 0-0 wasn’t a fair score.

The second half was a far more open, end to end game. Gifu opened the half well, forcing a pair of corners, one of which led to midfielder Kota Miyamoto being left unmarked at the far post, but the ball sat up a bit too high for him and his shot on the slide went over the crossbar. At the other end, Han-Yong-thae’s powerful run created a chance for Kazuya Sunamori, but the defender put his shot wide of the post.

 

Soon after that, Gifu made a change in defence with right back Ko Yanagisawa being replaced by fellow rookie Yuki Aizu, while just five minutes later Gifu made another defensive change, with Osamu Henry Iyoha replacing left full back Hayate Nagakura.

 

Yushi Nagashima was the player seeing the most of the ball for the home side, and he came close to opening the scoring in the 70th minute but his shot, after cutting in from the left, could only find the side netting. In keeping with the flow of the second half, Kagoshima tried to get the initiative and they nearly did but for two fine saves from Victor – the second of which was a superb acrobatic save from a Taku Ushinohama header.

Both teams pushed forward to try and get the win, but despite half chances and attacking intent, the game finished 0-0.

 

After the game Takeshi Oki said: “It was a tough game, and it wouldn’t have been a shock if either side had won. I’m pleased that we didn’t concede a goal, but I wanted us to push forward a bit more. We didn’t create enough goalscoring opportunities in this game, and so I’d like to try and rectify that for next week (against Yokohama FC).”

 

Midfielder Yushi Nagashima added: “We had a good percentage of the ball, and I had chances to score but just couldn’t do it. I seemed to get the ball a lot in this game, although I don’t think I did anything different than I usually do. It was more open in the second half, but I don’t think we managed to create enough clear cut chances – ones you get by beating and getting through the opponents defence.”

 

Center back Tadashi Takeda’s view was: “Given that both sides had chances, it wouldn’t have been a surprise had either of us won the game. I think there was definitely a time in the game when it was our time to step it up a gear and get a goal, but we did some little things wrong and ultimately missed our chance. It was good to keep a clean sheet, but if I look at my own performance today, I think I could have done better at times. We still have some work to do, as a unit.”

No goals conceded is the positive to take out of this hard fought game. Next Saturday, the defence will face another test as Gifu travel to Yokohama FC.