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Hachioji Park, Sunday 7th March.
Just as Alex Ferguson’s Man Utd are still in the running to win five trophies this season, so the Hibs remain alive to win three trophies after bagging the Phuket crown and still in with a great chance in the cup and league, after this hard fought, if not slightly dreary win over a spritely Geckoes. Some pre-match drama as the previous game finshed at 6.56 and we spilled on the field to warm up only to be told by one of the exiting players we should check with the office if we are allowed to use it ahead of time. Ruru wa ruru desu. As we warmed up we knew we were in for a game when we overhead the Geckoes pre-match introductory team-clap for new players take longer than their rev-up.
Although I admire the fitness required, I’ve never been a fan of the offside trap as a primary form of defence. Partly because it shrinks the game and makes it boring to watch and play. Not to mention it’s frustrating as hell to play against. Also because I reckon it’s what defenders do when they are afraid of actually marking their opponents. But mostly because it’s invariably ineffective, and over the course of a game, even with a linesman wearing the same shirts as the left back they are standing next to, eventually a player will spring it and score.
Five minutes in and Kuni Katase was the first to break the trap, released by Tomo and found himself one on one with the keeper. The keeper slid down early and Kuni slid it right into his path. It was parried by the keeper and bounced knee high to the unmarked Hibs attacker with the goal open - well it would have been knee high for Ryan, but it was Yama and it was thigh high. And it hit the top of the bar. The biggest bollocking was saved for the linesman and the mistake was not repeated again. The first half continued without much to report aside from a lot of offsidezzzzzzzz.
The second half saw the match open up a bit and after an errant pass by the Hibs, there was some good work wide on the left from the Geckoes midfielder and he slid the ball across for the striker to squeeze the ball under Hitoshi. Cue collective goal celebrations to rival Tardelli in the 82 world cup. In an ironic twist it was called back for offside. The Geckoe’s defence was starting to tire and repeatedly moving out for the offside trap was proving increasingly difficult. The Brazilian Bull Andre was late arriving and he charged on the field 10 minutes into the second half making immediate impact, holding the ball up well and drawing in two defenders at a time. Andre sprung the offside trap once more and released Edu on the left who fired in a shot from 25 yards that cleared the keeper but was sailing wide of the back-post – Hibs own Peter Crouch / Josh Kennedy loped in back post to nod it into the empty net.
The remainder of the game was played out without much more to note, not many chances on goals or excitement. All in all we were very happy to progress to the semi finals and look forward to next week’s game at the same venue. It was a nice respite from Hokkaido’s snow for me, but they are doing just fine without me. With Jay clearing his suspension and now available to play in the next game, I'm sure we'll have a competitive team out, and maybe even extend the run of eight unanswered goals in the past two meetings.
By Bevan Colless
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