Omiya 0-0 S-Pulse

The third 0-0 draw, and fourth draw, in a row between us two... Well, at least it didn't rain. :)

Three months with no competitive games can do the funniest things to you. 17 shots for S-Pulse, but not one found it's way through, and a hefty percentage weren't even close. No cause for panic though. Both teams had chances, but neither could capitalise. Both teams had wobbly moments at the back, but neither were punished.

The sell out crowd was entertained, but both sets of fans probably left feeling unfulfilled. It was just one of those games. Johnsen and Okazaki are going to take time to time to forge an effective striking partnership. Nishibe was back in the starting eleven, and to be fair to him, he dealt more than adequately with Omiya's handful of shots. Omiya did a good job of restricting us when it came to getting down the flanks, and we looked most dangerous on the counter.

The chance which fell to Edamura in the first half, which he duely blasted over, will stick in the memory for a while yet. Saying that, Omiya twice hit the woodwork, so it may quite as easily have gone the other way. All in all, a fair result, but a sub-par performance. Opening weekends are always a bit of a hotbed of randomness, and after a weekend of freak results we can at least be thankful we weren't on the wrong end of a 6-2 battering. Yes, I'm looking at you, Jubilo. :-)

Next Saturday, in front of a quite possibly sold out Nihondaira, will be the time to put it together. The time for reacclimatising to competitive football is over, and the time for getting a higher percentage of those 17 shots at least on target is here!

Line Up:

GK Nishibe

DF Ichikawa
DF Aoyama
DF Iwashita
DF Kodama

MF Hyodo
MF Ito
MF Yamamoto
MF Edamura

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen

Sub used:

Hara on for Okazaki 90+1

Highlights: