S-Pulse 2-2 Kashima

Barry writes:

S-Pulse 2-2 Kashima
Okazaki 44 ----------------Nozawa 26
Johnsen 56 ----------------Marquinhos 44

Att: 20203

Wow. What an eveing that was! There wasn't a spare seat in the house to witness a roller coaster of a game, and to see S-Pulse extend their unbeaten streak at home beyond the year point.

I can't bloody see!

We should have won this. Iwashita, a player I've got a lot of time for, made two absolutely shocking errors to give the champs a two goal lead. Well at 2-0 down to Kashima it was always going to be an mountain to climb to get back ino the game, but our boys were more than up for it.

Even given the huge knock our confidence took to be 2-0 down when we should still have been level, we rallied and came back fighting. Okazaki connected to a Johnsen cross with a world class header to claw one back right before the break.

Not an empty seat in the house

Ten minutes after the restart, Johnsen also slammed a header home to level and send the packed stands delirious. We went close to a winner on a number of occasions, but it wasn't to be. Kashima equal their own record of 16 games unbeaten, and we fall further off the pace of the ACL spots. Well, given everything, it wasn't a bad evening at all, and for pure entertainment, one of the best games I've seen for a long time.

Iwashita came over after the game for a personal apology, and we all appreciated it, but don't dwell on it, fella. We're all human, and you've more than made up for any mistakes this season already with some excellent performances!

Onwards and upwards - JEF away next week and three points is a must!

Line Up

GK K. Yamamoto

DF Ichikawa
DF Iwashita
DF Arata
DF Ota

MF Ito
MF Honda
MF Hyodo
MF Edamura

FW Okazaki
FW Johnsen

Subs used

Fujimoto on for Hyodo (65)
Aoyama on for Ota (74)
Hara on for Honda (79)

Videos

Full highlights: