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Todoroki, Sun 10th Dec. The Geckoes took the field against Zion on Sunday, Dec. 10th for a first round Footy Japan Cup match. The field being a nice grass surface at Todoroki, however unfortunately because of work being done to one side of the field the pitch was effectively cut in half which made it very narrow and difficult to have any width at all.
The game started lively enough with some good attacking from both teams. Zion was the first to break through when their speedy and skillful forward Benji skipped by two Geckoes defenders only to be stopped by good tackle in the box. Zion appealed for a penalty but there was none forthcoming. Geckoes then pushed forward and were rewarded when Kazu Kikuchi found the back of net.
Zion equalized shortly after when a deflected cross came in and the aforementioned Benji was on hand to finish coolly from a few yards out. The Geckoes then picked up the pace and didn't look back, the second came from a fine ball played down the left by Masa Kenmochi picked up by Simon Hiscocks, who made a good run into the box squared to Paul James who tapped him.
The third was a bit of good fortune for the Geckoes when Mikkel Troen struck a hard shot straight at the keeper who caught it square in the chest and somehow managed to bobble it into his own net, 3-1. Tom Kiley added a 4th and Mikkel got another so it was 5-1 at the half.
The Geckoes were able to control the pace which was considerable slower in the second half, another goal from Mikkel to complete his hat trick, off of a good shot from Kazu and final for Simon Hiscocks rounded it off and the Geckoes are through to next round. The score line was a little tough on Zion who played quite well on the day, however the Geckoes were able to take their chances.
Report by Pete Zollar.
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