Taira Said Knock You Out!! Gifu 1 - 3 Verdy

Ouch! Sorry Taira...

Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and let the person who you`ve berated, beaten down picked apart and laughed at in front of the whole world, punch you right on the end of the nose (the bit where it really knackers and makes your eyes water even if you are given just a little dab). Today, I hold my hands up to Mr. Taira Inoue "Official Object of Scorn Since Yuzo "The Donk" Funakoshi Left".

Coach Kawakatsu stuck with Bonnie Taira after his performance against FC Tokyo and it paid dividends. To be honest I doubt he`ll ever score two easier goals in the rest of his playing career but still, credit where it`s due, he is now leading scorer for the Greens!!

Right, the game then. Just under 4,000 turned up at Nagaragawa and the contest was a mere five minutes old when Inoue opened the scoring. His first came from an inswinging Kawano free kick, a flap and a miss from the goalkeeper, a bit of a scramble on the edge of the six yard box, the ball broke to Inoue and he swept in from about 6 yards. My first thought was "Wow! you don`t see that very often....". So, Verdy settled down nicely and the game started to ebb and flow with a few long rangers and half chances shared between the two sides. As the half wore on, so Gifu came alive and hit back with a quality goal. The move started with the ball coming through the centre circle and a Gifu midfielder playing a superb running backheel for his onrushing teammate. The pass completely fooled Tsuchiya and Fukatsu (not for the first time this season...) and the forward finished the mover with a glorious curling chip over Shibasaki to draw level. Much has been made of the Niigata goal with flying backheel this week, well this one while not as spectacular was right up there in terms of skill;maybe a J2 version of the Niigata goal?

So 1-1 it was at halftime and Verdy probably a little behind in terms of chances and goal threats. Kawano was taken off at half time (for Takagi) possibly as a precaution against his frustration boiling over as he had already been booked for a poor lunge in a nothing position. Inoue`s second of the night came after a period of good pressure straight from the re-start. Kazanori Iio whipped in a high ball and again the keeper flapped at the ball sending it straight to the waiting Inoue who made no mistake from the middle of the box. That was at about the 58th minute mark and it was to be game over just five minutes later. Yuki Kobayashi who had a solid game as a defensive midfielder crossed in a free kick where AGAIN the keeper could only send a weak punch directly to Kazunori Iio. Iio opened his account for the season before realing off to the dug out to hug/kiss/lick/sniff Yoichi Doi`s (injured and put out for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon last time out) top that had been hung there.....

The last 25 minutes were played out with Verdy never really in danger of conceding or indeed scoring again.

GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!

So, that`s it first win in the bag, Giravanz Kitakyushu up next and incredibly they have still only won one game (against Mito) since they beat Verdy 35 or so games ago in 2010. Onwards and Four Points Says Upwards, The Boys March On!!