Well not the best of weather to draw in the fans but nevertheless FCR was looking to remain perfect on the season and secure a vital 3 points at home vs Ehime FC.

FCR came out in their typical 4-2-3-1 with one noticeable change, absent from the starting lineup and reserves was # 2 Masutani. We must assume he picked up an injury during the last match or training but it is anyone’s guess at this point. Ehime FC elected to switch formations this match and employ a 4-3-3.

Early action saw Ehime attempting to unlock our defense with long through balls that were either headed out or went over the touch line. FCR had a few opportunities early but the attacks fizzled out when FCR was dispossessed near the box. In the 10′ FCR finally broke through by capitalizing on a giveaway to #14 Uejo who made an outstanding run into the box and sent a cross over to #9 Suzuki , who was wide open and would’ve had a brace for the third time in a row, but the cross was deflected slightly by the Ehime defender and the deflection curled around the keeper into the bottom right of the goal. It was very important to score early as it seemed to relax the boys and would mean that Ehime may press a little more than they wanted thus opening themselves up for a counterattack.

The remainder of the half was marked by Carvajal making some nice saves and #7 Nakagawa missing a few golden opportunities to further the FCR lead. At times our defense was getting pulled apart slightly and Ehime had some nice chances on net but one each attempt was sent high or not struck with any power. As expected, Ehime had a lions share of possession with 60% in the first half compared to FCR’s 40%.

The opening minutes of the second half were very pacey and created multiple opportunities for both sides. FCR had two chances early to convert with the most notable from # 5 Tokumoto who just missed. FCR had a bit of a scare in the 51st minute when Ehime broke through our ranks and had that been a better pass to their player, who had to turn the opposite direction instead of hitting him in stride, Ehime may have leveled as he was alone on goal. Carvajal was then called into action in the 54′ to make a a nice save and maintain the FCR lead. Tokumoto sent a couple of dangerous crosses into the box in quick succession shortly thereafter but no one was able to convert either of them into a goal.

In the 75′ minute Tanaka was able to release Suzuki down the middle/left side and Suzuki converted the shot for his J2 league leading 5th goal. Having the 2 goal buffer was very reassuring with just under 15 minutes to play and it also meant the Ehime would have to press if they wished to get back in the game resulting in more scoring opportunities for FCR.

The final nervy moment for FCR was when #10 from Ehime FC, Kamiya, once again bested the FCR defender, #3 Nishioka, and sent a shot into the side netting. The most notable moment after that was the very ambitious effort by #20 Uesato, who tried a long range shot from the halfway line when the Ehime GK was far out from his own goal. Another 12 inches lower and that ball may have gone in but it landed just inside the top netting. The match was a little terse near the end when frustrations boiled over on a very poor challenge from the #10 of Ehime FC on FCR. He kicked out the foot of Nishioka who had possession deep in the Ehime corner and then Nishioka rose up to shove Kamiya. This resulted in both players being yellow carded and hopefully a fine for Kamiya as the replay shows it was a very poor challenge.

At full time FCR 2 – 0 Ehime FC. All 3 points secured and because of the total amount of goals FCR has scored on the season, 9, FCR was once again atop the J2 table.

Some additional game notes: We got our first look at a couple of new faces, at least to me, for FCR this past week. #33 Fukui took over CB duties for Masutani and I must say he looked good. He made a very well timed challenge to stop a Ehime counterattack that could of tied the game and was all over the pitch making plays. He makes a nice pairing with #4 Okazaki and may even press Masutani out of the lineup depending on how the long the latter is dealing with injury. He was noticeably dealing with leg cramps near the end and hopefully his match fitness improves over time as its not even hot in Okinawa yet, wait till summer! We then got to see #13 Kawai come on in place of Uejo and he made some very nice runs down the left side and almost drew a PK near the end that the ref wiped out. Seems like a nice player to bring on late to run at the opposing teams tired defense. #19 Nishikawa and # 19 Ochi also came on late but I didn’t get to see enough of them to make any assessments.

Final Notes about the Match: Ehime ended up controlling the ball for 60% of the match as they intended too but were unable to convert any of their opportunities. There were a few misses and miss hits but Carvajal played exceptionally well. He seems to be in the right place at the right time creating difficult angles for opposing players to navigate. FCR must remain strong at the back if we are to do anything this season. On that note, it wasn’t the best game for Nishioka this week as he was constantly being beat #10 and other players down the left side. A few of those time made for some very tense moments when Ehime was free on net. Ehime focused much of their attack down our left side and if opposing teams continue to target our left side we will need to start dedicating a MF to come back and provide support, thus disrupting our game plan of attack, attack, attack. We will also look to tighten up some of the errant passes in the opponents end and that will surely come in time with the starting 11 of FCR becoming more familiar with one another.

In the end, FCR won and that is the most important thing for this newly promoted J2 team. The “safe zone” to stay in the J2 for the following season the past 5 years has been around 42 points (42-37-43-43-42) and if that is the case this year, FCR are roughly 20% of the way to securing J2 football next season.