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ASIJ Sunday 2nd March,
A pivotal weekend for the top two sides in TML1 swung BFC's way after the Vagabonds held Hibernian to a 1-1 draw and the first eleven produced a superb comeback to beat YCAC 4-3, putting the champions four points clear at the top.
Hide Yoshioka's early goal for YCAC put the cat amongst the pigeons, only for Carlos Aranda to equalise with a fabulous strike from the edge of the box.
YCAC had arrived with a Hibs-style assortment of pacy, young Japanese players whose energy caused BFC problems in the first half, the champions shapeless and generally clueless in using possession.
Skipper Jon Day had one speculative effort comfortably saved and put in BFC's lone cross of the afternoon -- a footnote yet to be addressed despite weekly pleas to 'ping it.'
YCAC it was who took a 2-1 lead into the interval, although quite how the referee deemed Aranda's block of a Joe Takeda rocket handball was a mystery, driven as it was from a metre away.
A clever free kick floated beyond the wall was knocked back across goal by Tyson Masar to Yoshioka, who, looking a yard or so offside, planted a header inside the far post. Robertson, who had the linesman's flag, was oblivious to his questioning team-mates -- he had been too busy texting some bird and had long since taken his eye of the play, the muppet.
The halftime whinge did little to restore order, BFC launching a batty up-and-under straight from the kickoff and then giving another Japanese fella named Toru time to stick the kettle on, crack open a packet of Jaffa Cakes and then smash a shot past goalkeeper Jason Leonardis for 3-1. Great goal though.
Things looked bleak for BFC but YCAC were good for the lead. Again, though, BFC struck back within 10 minutes, a sweeping move through the middle releasing Shosuke Yamagishi, who switched the ball right for Sam Morson to calmly tuck the ball into the bottom corner.
With 'big' brother James producing arguably his best performance since his return, the Morsons staked a very strong claim to the title of the best display by two or more members of the same family for the BFC first team this season. Quite remarkable.
Yamagishi was, to coin a Robbo-ism, 'mad for it' by now and began running at YCAC with some menace. His equaliser was a thing of beauty, a jinking run down the left, a cheeky stepover and then a Thierry Henry-esque curler into the far corner of the net. Pure class.
With one or two players coming down with cramp, thoughts of an honourable draw could have been forgiven but the old guard were demanding BFC push for the win and, although Leonardis had his crossbar rattled, the winner duly came with 10 minutes left.
Again it was Yamagishi who forged the opening, beating four or five YCAC players before being tripped on the edge of the area. The Skinny One was sniffing around as Robertson placed the ball but was told in no uncertain terms by Shetland's finest to 'shove it pal!'
There wasn't much of a gap to aim at but, with the YCAC goalkeeper standing on the wrong side of the goal, the Karaoke King mullered it past the wall and into the net, triggering some good old-fashioned 'hurrahs!' and quite a bit of hugging. Perhaps too much hugging. Oh, Robbo!
Exhausted at chasing this new-look YCAC side around for 70 minutes, BFC dug in for the remainder of the game, generally dealing comfortably with everything their opponents launched at them.
A hammering at YCAC earlier in the season had threatened to derail BFC's campaign but the showdown between the top two looms large and looks increasingly like being a title decider, potentially at least as Sala also look like having a say in the final shake-up.
Hibs still have a game in hand and, with their large contingent of genki young Japanese, will have the beans to last the course. It could be more about bottle, however, and you still wouldn't put your mortgage on either side.
Growing calls for a cap on the number of Japanese players, a policy successfully deployed in Shanghai's expat league, is an issue the TML may want to look at at their next AGM to protect the spirit of Sid Lloyd's brave new world.
It's all too easy to flick through your little black book and draft in half-a-dozen young Japanese players from God knows where. There was a time the Swiss were Swiss, the Hibs were Irish and YCAC were Aston Martins. Time to draw a line.
Report by Dirty Pradas
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