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YC&AC, Sunday 28th October,
After last week’s humiliation at the hands of Sala the Saitama Jets were looking to bounce back against YCAC. The Jets delivered a performance big on heart and commitment, recovering from two goals down, but crucially lacking in quality and eventually succumbed to a late winner.
It was something of a surprise that the game went ahead at all given Saturday’s typhoon induced torrential rain, but in bright Sunday morning sunshine the pitch was in remarkably good condition and hosted a physical, generally good spirited, game of football.
YCAC are a physically big team and set about imposing themselves on the Jets right from the kick off, with the vast majority of the game being played in one half. The men from Yokohama were totally dominant in the air and were able to knock the ball about with relative ease in the first two thirds of the pitch. Despite their domination of the ball and territory YCAC were unable to create any clear-cut chances due to the hard work Saitama put in chasing the ball and closing players down and the lack of a true creative spark. The pitch probably doesn’t help, being slightly on the short side, resulting in congested midfields in which time and space on the ball are a rare luxury. Stand-in keeper Gould had only one real moment of worry in the first half, diving superbly at the feet of a YCAC forward who had broken through the Jets’ rearguard. For Saitama, lone striker Gildart was often isolated and with a midfield slow to support him it meant that the opposing keeper was a mere spectator for the opening 40 minutes. Half time 0-0.
The Jets would be a tough nut to crack if TML games lasted only 40 minutes instead of 80. Once again Saitama found themselves level at the half against obviously superior opposition, through a combination of luck and hard work. As so often in the TML the second period sorts the wheat from the chaff and this game was no different as YCAC scored twice inside the first 15 minutes to look very comfortable. The first was slightly fortunate as a high ball to the back post was dropping over everyone when the YCAC midfielder, with his back to goal, launched a boot at the ball and sent it back over his head to drop between Gould’s despairing fingertips and the crossbar. The second came shortly after a ball from the right caused panic in the Jets’ penalty area and was slammed home for 2-0.
Considering that the Jets had barely had an attempt on goal, only a fool would have bet on them scoring a goal. Incredibly they managed two, albeit with a bit of help from the ‘keeper. First a free kick near the touchline on the Saitama left midway in the Yokohama half was floated into the area by Ozawa and the keeper made a bit of a hash of it and somehow managed to palm it into the roof of his own net. 2-1 and the Jets sensed that there might be something to be had from the game. Throwing caution to the wind Saitama switched to a more attacking formation and with just a few minutes to go Ozawa’s cross from the left forced the ‘keeper to come for the ball and Gildart popped up from nowhere, beating the keeper to the ball and heading it into an empty net. 2-2 and an unlikely point looked on the cards for Saitama, but just a minute later a YCAC free kick wasn’t dealt with and, following a desperate scramble in the box, the ball found its way into the net for 3-2 to YCAC and game over.
Report by Rob Keating
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