S-Pulse 1-0 Niigata (Nab Cup Group Stage)

Barry writes

S-Pulse 1-0 Niigata 
Kobayashi 16

Att. 7479

Line Up

GK Yamamoto

DF Inukai (22)
DF Hiraoka
DF Jong a Pin
DF Kawai

MF Edamura
MF Kang (52)
MF Kobayashi
MF Ishige

FW Ito
FW Shirasaki

Subs Used  

Nabeta on for Ito (55)
Franca on for Shirasaki (76)
Yoshida on for Inukai (80)

Report

An entirely different team to the one that beat Sapporo, we had three débutantes, and several other first starts for this term. For what was an almost entirely new team line up, it was a great result. Niigata, a far older and more experienced starting 11 than ourselves, held their own level of threat, especially after they brought on Bruno Lopes, but Kaito was level to anything they could manage.

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OK, so I'm running around trying to get ready for a weekend in Kobe, so it's going to have to be quick. Kaito had a good game, turning a point blank shot onto the post in the 89th minute. He was sharp, but Hayashi's catching of the ball was missed. Maybe it was down to his time in England, but Hayashi is great at catching rather than punching it away, and that does wonders for my nerves.

Jong a Pin was massive and Niigata couldn't handle him at all. He was a calming influence on the young Inukai and Kawai (who started at side back).

In midfield all eyes were on Ishige, and he showed great vision and reading of the game. He almost even scored late on but the keeper got down to his perfectly directed shot. Has he just belted it you can't help thinking it would have beaten the Niigata keeper, but he's not that sort of player. A great touch and given a few games he'll start to get a real feel of Nihondaira's field.

Up front, Shirasaki made his home début and had a couple of decent attempts on goal, but again, he's still getting a feel of his home ground and finding his range. In fact, it was from miss kick of Shirasaki that the ball fell to the relative veteran Kobayashi who slotted home.

Off to Kobe straight after work tomorrow until Sunday night, so no update until Monday, I'm afraid. You can follow us on Twitter @spulseukultras if you don't already, and I'll be tweeting from the ground and after the game as much I can get away with without getting into a row with the girlfriend.

Pictures

Hang on, who's the white bloke behind Palchan? I made my own Nihondaira début tonight :)

 S-Pulse v ?

Youngest ever S-Pulse player? 17 year old Hideki Ishige

Videos

Kobayashi's goal from a personal video.