Wet wet wet

Perhaps they'd be better utilised as drought-breakers, as for the third game in a row at "Outsourcing Stadium Nihondaira," Shimizu S-Pulse were forced to run out in the wet - although it didn't prevent them from avenging last season's League Cup final defeat as they beat Oita Trinita 3-1.

Yet again thousands of ticket holders failed to turn out in steady rain lashing the Nihondaira foothills, meaning that the near-16,500 tickets sold before the match counted for little when only 13,141 fans braved the conditions... not that the club loses a great deal of money from those ticket holders who don't show.

At any rate, the result on the pitch was surely a foregone conclusion in this one.

Taikai Uemoto. Yuki Fukaya. Roberto. Edmilson. Ueslei. Daiki Takamatsu. Yasuhito Morishima. Shunsuke Maeda. Those were just the Oita players who MISSED the game through suspension or injury (seven of whom are first team regulars).

So it was that Oita ran out with a team featuring squad numbers 25, 28, 32, 33 and 34, with a new-look formation and two midfielders playing up front. They didn't have much hope.

Shimizu defender Keisuke Iwashita got the scoring under way with a routine header from a corner on the quarter-hour mark, but what Iwashita brings to the team in terms of aerial ability and defensive positioning is surely wasted when the fragile defender goes down at every single opportunity. I've seen wet paper bags with a stronger disposition than the delicate Iwashita - not surprisingly he limped off after the hour mark with another mysterious injury.

Iwashita was just one of several Shimizu players to be targeted by irate S-Pulse fans in this game, but the hosts hit Oita with a classic one-two punch as Frode Johnsen fashioned a half-chance just three minutes after Iwashita's goal, with the big Norwegian volleying a finish between the luckless Shusaku Nishikawa's legs.

Shimizu looked like they could win this game at a canter, but Oita found a way back when the tireless Daisuke Takahashi cushioned an expert header in off the post just before the break, to ensure that the two teams still had plenty to play for in the second half.

With the rain increasing and the hosts content to sit back and try and hit Oita on the break in the second half, it was no surprise that the bounce of the ball played a pivotal role in settling this encounter. Midway through the half Frode Johnsen's speculative twenty-five yard strike took a late deflection to wrong-foot Shusaku Nishikawa in the Oita goal and skid into the corner to end the scoring.

Johnsen was named Man of the Match for his efforts, although the former Nagoya striker received little supporter from fellow front-man Kazuki Hara - who struggled to impose himself on this game. Indeed, the decision to play Japan international Shinji Okazaki as a wide-lying midfielder appeared to backfire, with neither Hara, nor Okazaki influencing the outcome of this relatively one-sided affair. 

A win is a win, as they say, but there was a palpably hostile atmosphere on the terraces. Perhaps Shimizu fans are simply tired of turning out in the rain, although the catcalls aimed at coach Kenta Hasegawa would suggest otherwise. Hasegawa may be living on borrowed time, and he will need to work diligently to win back the trust of Shimizu's frustrated fans - with two-thirds of the season still to contest.