Match Review: FC Nippon vs 1TM Latini FC

• -- Hiroki ISHIKAWA
• -- Takao NAKASUJI
• -- Wataru HASEGAWA
• -- Koji NISHINA
• -- Takuya ASUKABE
• -- Yusuke ISODA
• -- Makito NAKATA
• -- Takuya TAKAHASHI
• -- Yuuki OKAMOTO
• -- Ryo SUZUKI
• -- Tetsu KAKIMOTO

• -- Akou TAKASAKI
• -- Shinpei NOGAWA

Guys came back but...

Reliable guys are back. Reliable MF Yuki recovered from knee injury. Takasaki aggressive super-fast dribbler is back in Singapore again for temporary job opportunity. We were hoping them to change our tough situation right now. 15: The first shot of this game was from Latini. His loop shot was not precise enough. 21: Latini FW picked up Nippon’s clear in the box. (0-1) 25: Nippon started to possess but Latini’s beautiful counter attacking. Left wing dribbled and give feed to center. (0-2) 29: Nippon did not gave up. Yuki’s header gave us will to fight. (1-2) 35: Latini FW’s back header went above our GK. (1-3) 45: Both teams had chances but score remained. 50: Nippon woke up. Left MF Nakada created several chances. Yuki’s aggressive possession started be a fear factor for Latini. 55: Takasaki went in. His super fastness gave threat to Latini. 75: We took risk to push up. It gave Latini frustration but Latini DF’s hard work didn’t give us any goal. 90: Latini goal kick went behind our DFs. (1-4)

• Pete O'Brien GK
• Jonathan Baker DF
• Jamie Townsend MD
• Luke Townsend ST
• John O'Neill --
• Jonathan Talbot --
• Jake Gottlieb --
• Ben Morley --
• Graham Bignell --
• Lewis Wood --
• Mathieu Harding --

• Lee Bradshaw DF
• Jon Kelly --
• Mark Raven --
• Dominic Mooney --

A standard ‘laxed warm up’ followed by a JT ‘laxed warm up whinge’ then Latini were ready to roll versus Nippon Sat evening in what could be described as ideal footballing conditions. The fake grass at turf city sprinkled to perfection by the classic 4pm Singapore shower. 1st Half Latini opened the scoring in the 10th minute, after an innocuous throw in and some pin ball. The ball dropped nicely for Duplo who fired home a sweet half volley from 20 yards out. Clinical finish. 1 became 2 in the blink of an eye after a quick break away down the right flank. Lego found Biggles with a low cross and the big man duly volleyed home. 2-0. Nippon pulled one back soon after through an excellent powerful header from a corner kick. Latini were able to go into the break with a 2 goal advantage after Dozen apparently got his head on the end of a Woody punted free kick, although it looked like it may have been his ear. HT 3-1. 2nd Half Despite being backed by a bumper crowd of school kids, it was Nippon who came out and dominated the early proceedings of the half. An organized back four and some desperate defending kept them at bay as Latini protected their lead. With the score at 3-1 I departed a few minutes early as I couldn’t resist a free lift in Dazza’s T-reg Hyundai. It turns out I missed what in footballing terms is the equivalent of falling asleep for Haley's comet. I’m told that JT dispatched a Latini fourth to wrap up a convincing win. With no video footage I’m still not sure whether this is some elaborate joke. FT 4-1. A solid win against top opposition (and Latini Bogey side.) Thanks to Nippon for the game and also for Captain Eyebrows for coming down to watch. MOM Latini – Difficult one this week as plenty of excellent performances. Special mention to Matty Harding for executing a superb specialist role in the 2nd half, but Mr. Baker gets the award this week. MOM Nippon – Okamoto