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Hachioji Park, Saturday 1st September,
Saitama Jets started the new season as they ended the last with a victory over the Wall Street Geckoes at Hachioji Park through two second-half goals from Canadian poacher Nate Gildart in an open and entertaining encounter.
The Jets could have been in front before the Geckoes had even touched the ball as a flowing move down the left-hand side straight from the kick-off gave Ryan Loren a shooting chance but the Americanís effort was deflected for a corner. The Geckoes pulled themselves together quickly however and enjoyed the lions share of possession and the territorial advantage for the rest of the half. Despite seeing a lot of the ball they were unable to trouble the Jets stand-in keeper due to the faultless Saitama defence for whom Hide Hayashi at right back had an outstanding game. It was in fact the Jets, playing on the break, who created the better chances, with the Geckoes defence being consistently troubled by the pace of the Saitama forwards and the trickery of their wide players. Shimizu, enjoying his most productive game, was a constant menace down the right hand side and put in a number of dangerous crosses, one of which was just a whisker away from being converted by new signing Sam. 0-0 at the half and both sides were no doubt feeling optimistic that they would be able to move up a gear and win the game in the second half.
The second half started at a furious pace and quickly became and frantic end-to-end affair, with an attack repelled at one end serving as the launch pad for an assault on the opposing goal. Slowly though the Geckoes began to tire and the Saitama midfield, anchored superbly by Yoshi Ozawa, started to exert control, now finding the time and the space to send passes in behind the defence with dangerous regularity. First Sam went clear but opted to go wide and cross rather than for the goal, next Loren was put through, burnt past a defender and the keeper but somehow hit the bar from 10 yards when it looked easier to score. A Saitama goal was looking likely and it was no surprise that it was Gildart who finally broke the deadlock. With Saitama calling the shots in the middle of the park Rob Keating was allowed far too much time to send a ball into the space between goalkeeper and defence for Gildart to run on to and calmly slot past the keeper. 1-0. The Jets were rampant now and poured forward sensing that their opponents were there for the taking. Just minutes later a suicide ball across the Geckoes back line was pressured by Ozawa, poorly received as Gildart stripped the defender of the ball, raced into the area and once again made no mistake with his finish. 2-0.
At this point the Jets were guilty of sitting back a little and the Geckoes rallied and made a concerted effort to get back into the game, finally forcing a save from Eisuke Harada in the Saitama goal and shaving the bar with a powerful effort in the final minute, but to no avail, as the Jets held out for an excellent start to the season..
Report by Rob Keating
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