Oita 0 - Vissel 2

It really does seem like every game now is a must-win, and last night was no exception. Apart from a couple of fluke results, Oita have been terrible all year so anything but a victory would have been unacceptable. We dominated for most of the match and should have scored at least 4 or 5. Okubo and Yoshida, the strike partnership on the night, each grabbed a goal, both of which were aided by some very slack defense. Without taking too much away from a decent away victory, Oita were poor. I haven't seen a team lacking that much ability to finish since the one-top Marcel period. It was sad.

Beating a team that bad doesn't mean much. However, there are some reasons for Vissel fans to get excited.
First, Okubo looks sharp again. He's back to his whinging but, as we know too well, that's part of the Yoshito package. He put us 1-0 up when he headed home a nice Yoshida cross after about 30 minutes. It was an easy header, but, he was THERE.
Gakuto started again at right back but Miura came to his senses at half time and brought on Ishibitsu. He immediately made an impact by setting up our second goal. Gakuto plays with a lot of heart and has showed us over the past few games that he probably deserves to be in the squad, but Ishibitsu is simply a better player. End of story.
Finally, we are gradually climbing out of the danger zone heading for our usual mid-table finish. No complaints for now.