Crazy Kansai Derby! Vissel Kobe 2-3 Cerezo Osaka

Dodgy defending from both sides contributed to another exciting Kansai derby at the beautiful Home's Stadium in Kobe with 12,868 in attendance. We were two down after 17 minutes thanks to goals from Ogawa and Soma for Vissel. Fabio Simplicio pulled one back after some clumsy gaolkeeping in the first half as both sides spurned some good chances. The turning point for us came in the 2^nd half and oddly enough it was thanks to our left-back Maruhashi receiving his marching orders in the 60^th minute after a dangerous looking but probably unintentional lunge. Culpi took off the profligate Kempes for Sugimoto who promptly headed against the bar from a set piece. Simplicio scored his second from a well delivered Kakitani cross in the 73^rd minute. Culpi then threw on S-Pulse loanee Edamura who scored a cracking goal to give us the 3 points and leapfrog over Vissel up to 12^th and looking pretty safe. Enjoy the highlights!

Vissel Kobe 4 - 1 Cerezo Osaka in Home's Satdium Kobe

Not much to say about the last two losses. We strugggle against ten men nowadays! Kobe looked consistenly dangerous. We missed Martinez's ability to hold possesion in the midfield in this particular game. Old boy Okubo came off the bench for a cameo, he soon left two of our players for dead. Then he won and converted a penalty. Come back to Cerezo!

One of the better J-League stadiums

Okubo converts the penalty he won

Vissel fans celebrate their fourth of the night