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Hodogaya Grass, Sunday 30th August
The Clash held on to win 3-2 against Guarana Republic at Hodogaya after being 3-0 up at half-time.
On a wet and windy Yokohama morning, the teams kicked off their 2009/10 campaigns. The superb grass pitch, slick from the rain, made for a surprisingly high quality encounter full of passing moves.
The Clash had the better of the early exchanges, Rob Keyworth and Rafa Colella leading a two pronged attack which caused Guarana's defence problems every time the ball was played forwards. An early, speculative, looping shot from the outside of Keyworth's right boot only narrowly missing the target in the first five minutes.
The deadlock was broken when, from just inside the area after advancing from the centre of midfield, Jin Shiba fired low and hard past the helpless Guarana goalkeeper's right hand.
The Clash lead was doubled following some good work down the left wing. Keyworth, finding space near the sideline, saw the keeper off his line and curled a shot towards the back post and the advancing Colella. The goalkeeper misjudged the flight of the ball and Colella was not required as the ball sailed into the back of the net.
Guarana refused to lie down, their midfield players constantly being allowed to run at the Clash defence. Their best chance came when the Clash goalkeeper, Kevin Green, was forced to make a very sharp save to his left after some good inter-linking work between the midfield and strikers.
However, almost against the run of play, it was to be the Clash who would score next. A half clearance from the Guarana defence was headed back strongly. Andy Drought, playing on the right-wing, picked up the loose ball and beat one man before hitting a cross from the right towards the back-post. Again, the Guarana goalkeeper was unable to make the necessary interception. With the ball reaching the back-post at speed, Keyworth timed his sliding finish to perfection to ensure that the Clash had a three goal cushion at the break.
Although deserving of the lead, it was a flattering margin for the Clash. Obviously aware that the job was not yet done, the decision was taken to leave Colella as a lone striker and add Simon Jelfs to play in the hole between the defence and the midfield.
The tactic worked to a degree, limiting the Guarana midfield space to run at the Clash defence. However, after ten minutes of the second half Guarana pulled a goal back. A well-struck corner was volleyed beautifully by Guarana's number 69, forcing Green into a sharp block.
However as the ball rebounded to just outside the six yard box, the Guarana striker was first to react, smashing the ball hard into the back of the net.
Following a host of near misses, including a close header directly at the Guarana goalkeeper from Colella following a shot against the bar from Yasuyuki Kataoka, Guarana made sure that the game would have an exciting finish when they reduced the deficit to just one goal. Breaking yet again from the midfield, a run into the box was finished off with a precise strike from the right, sending ball across Green and into the back of the net.
For the remaining fifteen minutes the Clash continued to carve out and miss opportunities to kill the game. Likewise, Guarana created and spurned chances to draw level.
Guarana will be proud of a determined fight back which only just fell short. However, it is the Clash who will be most satisfied with a deserved winning start to the season.
Report by Andy Welch
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