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Hachioji Park, Saturday 22nd October. The Saitama Jets eventually got past the brave Dutch resistance at Hachioji Park, notching up a 4-0 win.
The game, however, was not as easy as the scoreline suggests. At kick-off time, the Dutch had only managed to assemble 6 men. When the 7th arrived, the Jets lent the men in orange a spectator, so the game started 11 vs 8. Confident pre-match talk of scoring double figures soon proved premature, as a combination of stout Dutch defending and loose final passes and shots from the men from Saitama saw the first 30 minutes remain scoreless. It looked like it would take something a bit special to break the deadlock, so up stepped the Jets midfield motormouth Gary Garner. A harmless-looking ball was played over to the left-hand side, and Garner duly smashed an unstoppable drive into the top corner from around 30 yards. Just before half-time, the Jets added a second after great work from in-form striker Nate Gildart set up his partner Ryan Loren. Loren headed home Gildart's cross off the underside of the bar to take his TML tally to 3 for the season.
The second-half continued much as the first had done, with the Jets pressuring through Mark Eite and Mike Passmore, and the Dutch looking to use their pace upfront on the counter-attack. Another Dutchman had arrived, and they had 'borrowed' a couple of Jetro players, so the game became an 11 versus 11 contest. The Jets third goal arrived after a piece of sublime skill. Former Brazilian professional midfielder Sasaki broke from deep, and ran on to Garner's well-timed through ball. One on one with the goalie, he dummied the keeper, Pele-style, by letting the ball go completely. The Dutch keeper, clearly seeing double, was flummoxed by the move, and Sasaki was left to run around him and poke the ball into the empty net. The Dutch were clearly tiring, but still had the energy to launch occasional counter-attacks, which John Rayner and Simon Bentz, in particular, helped to snuff out. There was still enough time for a fourth goal for the Jets. Romford Rob Keating dribbled past 3 or 4 defenders, beating himself at least twice in the process, before squaring cleverly. Nate Gildart was on hand to slot home the team's fourth, and his fifth of the season.
Hats off to the Dutch who did show up for keeping going under the circumstances, but no prizes for their organisational skills!
G Garner
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