Cerezo Osaka 3 - 2 Shimizo S-Pulse

An entertaining game, bad defending meant we had lots of chances. Kempes missed after a defensive error in the first minute and hit the post twice but did get on the score sheet using his head which was his seventh goal in the league. Kakitani continues to add to his goal tally this season with his eighth in the J-League. Star signing Simplicio made up for giving away a penalty with his first goal since his move from Serie A, he had an almost identical effort ruled out for offside minutes earlier. A great result against a S-Pulse team in transition. We're not out of danger yet but it's nice to write about a match and not say "we were poor" for once. Kansai derby up next and it's a big one with Vissel Kobe needing points to avoid being dragged into the relegation dogfight. Genki Omae with a penalty and Alex Brosque form a free kick scored for S-Pulse. Brosque has just signed for Al Ain FC in the UAE where he joins Asamoah Gyan. Shinji Ono also left S-Pulse to join the Western Sydney Wanderers as their marquee signing.

Fans behind the goal did a great job of trying to put Omae off his penalty

Culpi a lot less animated than usual after his return from retirement

What happened to S-Pulse? Cerezo 4 - 0 Shimizu

Our first game since Pimpao returned to Brazil after an inconsistent few games in J1 but pretty solid performances in the ACL. He won't be missed too badly (if at all) after this result. Martinez returned and Komatsu took up the front man position. The first half was pretty evenly matched and I was pretty worried coming into this game. But the second half belonged to our Korean midfielder Kim Bo-Kyung. Some pretty poor marking from a corner let Bo-Kyung score the first from in the six yard box. He then won a penalty, a decision which could have gone either way, leaving Kurata to convert. So we got a couple of fortunate goals. A few minutes later and Shinji Ono got subbed due to an injury and that seemed to destroy any hope for Shimizu as they never looked like getting back into things. This left Kim Bo-Kyung to grab his well deserved second and Inui to wrap things up with our fourth goal. Deja vu perhaps I've written this before but that could be Inui's last for us, this was played in Nagai Stadium before heading of to VFL Bochum for a bargain price (or his true worth?) of around 300,000 Euros.

Shimizu away fans full of hope

Bo-Kyung (next to the keeper) waits for the delivery to score his first

Kurata prepares to tuck this one away

Shinji Ono's game is over and with it any sign of hope for Shimizu. Oh no indeed.