Match Review: 1TM Latini FC vs FC Nippon

• GK Pete O'Brien
• DF Ben Tomlinson
• DF Jonathan Baker
• DF Fraser Anderson
• DF Jonathan Cloak
• MD Samuel Taylor
• MD Nathan Bryer
• MD Jamie Roberts
• ST Luke Townsend
• ST Jacob Saurin
• ST Nick Verill

• DF Iain Mul
• DF Jordan Laing
• DF Taishi Fukuda
• MD Jamie Townsend
• MD Daniel Klepsvik

With almost a full squad to choose from 1TM were feeling confident going into today’s fixture. A 3pm kickoff, a scorching temperature and a very fit opponent in Nippon meant we knew it was going to be a challenging afternoon. The game started in 1TM’s favour with a great ball over the top from Didge which Duplo latched onto and his cross found its way to Gerbil who finished well. From there, 1TM began to create chances but a combination of good defending, goalkeeping and poor finishing meant that we couldn’t extend our lead. Nippon managed to get back in the game after winning the ball back in midfield, carried the ball and then finished well from outside the box. 1-1. 1TM remained calm having been in this position a few times this season. Yet, for all our endeavours we couldn’t break down the stubborn Nippon defence. We created several good chances and even hit the post but today was not our day. To rub salt in our wounds further, Nippon managed to break late in the game forcing a good save from POB. From the resulting corner, 1TM’s marking was sloppy on the back post and the ball found their man in space who calmly finished high into the goal. 1-2 There was still time to get a goal but Flat White’s effort forced another excellent save from the Nippon gk. Final Score 1-2. Congratulations to Nippon. Huge thanks to the whole squad, Team Cow for supporting and the officials for managing the game . NIPPON - MOM - Takaki Nakamura 1TM MOM - Didge DOD - POB air kick KIT / BALLS / PUMP - ?

• Takaki NAKAMURA GK
• Katsumi Oku DF
• Ryuko Mon DF
• Yoshinori Kurata DF
• Kotaro Hayashi DF
• Mokchan Kim ST
• Takuya Hagino ST
• Jo Kagitani --
• Jun Nishiyama --
• Naoki Ohira --
• Seito Yachimoto --

• Shumpei Takahashi MD
• Takaaki Miura MD
• Oscar Lee ST
• Seiya Yokoyama --

Dramatic weekend match

After the Christmas and New Year break, most of the Nippon eleven came back with a little addition to our weight. Some of the key members were missing due to some long lasting injuries and business trips, but there were also some recovered members and we were all looking forward to the game. The first half was basically in line with Nippon's strategy which was to put tight pressure on 1TM's side players to avoid good supply to their strong forwards and possess the ball and use the field widely. An unfortunate early accident (GK's fumble) made the score 0-1 in the first 5 minutes, but Nippon stood strong and reacted calmly (we all knew that 1TM will score at some point in time as they score 3-4 goals per game!). Nippon's defence line and midfielders followed the strategy and controlled the ball while the 3 forwards created some threats to 1TM goal. Soon after the water break, Jun Nishiyama, the all rounder player of Nippon who was playing midfielder that day, gave a massive middle shoot outside the penalty area and got the equaliser. 1TM reacted very well and created a few threats before the half time, but with some luck and Nippon's defenders efforts, we managed to end the first half 1-1. The second half was basically 1TM's pace. They decided to use long balls and a rather simple strategy to leverage the physical arbitration. As the team was getting a bit tired because of the sunny weather (and good running in the first half), this strategy change made impact on Nippon. Gradually, 1TM got closer to the goal and we received numbers of attempts. One of them even hit the post, but again, today's Nippon simply had the luck and 1TM just couldn't get the ball into the net. Instead, surprisingly, Nippon grabbed their second goal from a corner kick (someone flicked the ball and it dropped into an air pocket where Takuya Hagino ran in and put it into the goal net!). We felt the last 5-10 minutes were like hours, but finally, the referee blew the whistle and we realized that we won. Overall, a very competitive and tight game and the result was just because we were a bit lucky. Thank you 1TM for the great weekend game and thank you to the great referees as well which efficiently controlled the game with only 1 yellow card.