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YC&AC, Sunday 1st April, The Hibs finally found their confidence with a convincing 5-0 win over the Wall Street Geckoes. We knew we were in for a tough match with the Geckoes who were in a relegation scrap and looking for revenge after the 10-0 drubbing by the Hibs in round one. The Hibs were hit once again by injury with Mick O’Hagan ruled out with a hamstring injury sustained while playing in a corporate game on the Saturday. We were buoyed by the appearance of Brazilian new comer Andre; who had just arrived in Tokyo this week, but at Muse at 3am on Saturday morning had shown us he was not afraid to have a shot from anywhere. This was enough to convince the manager to throw him in the mixer sight unseen.
The Geckoes began strongly and the first 15 minutes saw them create a few chances as the Japanese No. 8 and Kazu were stamping their presence on the game. Hitoshi once again was faultless in this game and made a great save 10 minutes in from a stinging drive from a Geckoes attacker who found himself one on one 12 yards out on the right. Andre, Rod and Kusaka came on at 20 minutes to immediate effect. Andre chipped a ball diagonally across the goal that found Rob S who dinked in onwards to Kuni K who controlled it well and smacked it back post left footed. This goal took the pressure off us and we began to play some good football. Andre was unlucky to be felled by a sniper when the Geckoes last man had an air swing which sent him clear on goal for a runaway one on one. His JFK-esque claims that a mysterious grassy knoll to blame was obviously unfounded as we all know there is no grass at the YCAC these days. The ref was not affording the keepers much protection and Andre booted the ball from the keepers hands and skipped around him to roll it back to Kuni K from the near post only to have a defender nip in to clear valiantly when Katase was sure he was about to bag a brace. 1-0 into half time and the game was still anyone’s.
The first 10 minutes of the second half saw the Hibs of earlier this season re-emerge as we began to pile forward in numbers and looking like we are about to score at anytime. Andre got on the scorecard after Tomo released him with some good work on the right. A hopeful long ball that dribbled to the edge of the box wide on the right saw most players give up on the chase but Andre chased it down to find himself isolated. The keeper decided if the ref was not going to protect him he would take matters into his own hand by kicking for the shins and forgetting about the ball. Fortunately Andre remembered to go for the ball and dinked it through the keeper and walked it across the bye line and tapped it in with no defenders in the picture. I reckon the 190cm 120kg keeper will be having nightmares about the Hibs old striped shirt for a few days, his frustration boiling over later when he appealed vehemently for the ref to give him a red card and end the misery. The match did deteriorate somewhat in the later stages as the ref’s reluctance to use his whistle or give yellow cards for fouls that obviously deserved it frustrated both teams to become more and more cynical with their challenges. Credit to the smaller Hibsmen who I reckon got the better of the physical side of the game. Losing their chief moaner Bevan saw them be no contest for the experienced Geckoes on the verbal ledger.
The last two goals were of the highest quality as Ohta who worked tirelessly all game nicked possession in his own half, carried the ball up field, released Michael on the right and he chipped it back to Ohta who finished it back post for a great team goal. Michael was unlucky not to open his TML account with a great shot with a short backlift from 25 yards bounced down off the bar only for Tomo to follow up to knock it in from 1 yard.
With the YCAC doing nothing to silence their critics who claim they travel as well as Denis Bergkamp, the Hibs have their eye on a second place finish and with a stumble from the BFC we still harbor hope of a rough shot at the title..
Report by Bevan Colless.
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