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Fukuda Denshi, Saturday 29th August
The ground at Fukuda Denshi is known to many area historians as the site of the Fukudic Uprising of 1272, when the local daimyo and his elite spear-throwing corps defeated a much larger invading force from what is now central Chiba to lay final claim to their homeland. A small monument just outside the pitch commemorates the victory, and it is there that the new-look Hibs gathered before their TML opening-night win against Celts.
Inspired by the solemn memory of that battle and the tantric groin-thrusts introduced by Paul during warm-ups, Hibs took to the pitch ready for warfare. Celts have given us all we can handle of late - we battled to a costly (for us) 1-1 draw late last year, and then were fortunate to grind out an overtime win against them in the cup final. Much respect.
The game was a classic TML opener, hard-fought with lots of sweating off of summer lager and the occasional run of decent football. Hibs had the better of the first half, pressing forward in numbers - we were unable to crack the Celts defense but increasingly won corners and free kicks. A few minutes after Mike was taken down by a nasty tackle from behind he recovered to latch on to a cleared corner, which he blasted in from about 30 yards, 1-0 Hibs. Celts had a few chances, the best when one of their forwards ran in free at the edge of the box but shot wide left of a charging Hitoshi.
In the second half it was more of the same, Hibs were unlucky not to score with Mike hitting the bar, Dave doing well to get free several times only for his shot to fail him, and Tomo floored in the box with no PK love. Celts poured forward as time wound down, but the revamped Hibs defense held, and Hitoshi was up to the task as always on several long-range shots. So 1-0 it was, a fair result in a hard-fought game, good kindling for those who made the long trek back to Roppongi to get all Fukuda up.
Report by Jay Alabastert
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