Things could be changing

In all honesty, with the way 2011 is going, who expected a draw against Kofu? Then after Kato was given a red card in the 12min, I thought that it was going to be a very long night for the Reds. A victory with one man down is never easy; so coming away with a 2-0 victory over Kofu is a good result for the Reds.

After Hirakawa opened the scoring in the 53min, I was bracing myself for another disappointment, but after the second goal from Kashiwagi in the 73min, it felt alot more secure. Looking at all of our victories in 2011 (yes all four of them), when we win the margin is always greater then two goals. When the we have been ahead one-nil in 2011, there's always at least one more goal to come. Seeing a Kofu goal tonight would have been to painful after what happened last week at Iwata.

In the first half we did well to hang-on and not conceed a goal. Kato's red card was harsh in my eyes, though yes he did put himself in that position and that's all I will say on that. Yamagishi was solid in Kato's place, but I don't know if Yamagishi has done enough yet against Kofu to be the number one again. Sergio was the unlucky one to be subbed off, but I'm sure he'd get another chance.

On other personal front; Ranko made his first start for the Reds and found the back of the net in the early going; it would have been a good goal too if he wasn't offside. I do like what I've seen so far with Ranko; he isn't a 'lazy' forward and has a good engine. He just needs a few more games to gel with the rest of the team. Two players who are beginning to play well together is Genki and Kashiwagi. They are forming a potent partnership on the left side of the field; both of the goals tonight came from the left and both Genki and Kashiwagi played a part in the goals.

This is how we lined up against Kofu

GK: Kato

DF: Takahashi; Spiranovic; Nagata; Hirakawa

MF: Keita; Kashiwagi; Sergio

FW: Richardes; Haraguchi; Ranko

Subs

13min Sergio > Yamagishi

66min Ranko > Takasaki

83min Richardes > Naoki

Overall Urawa has played well over the summer, and hopefully with a few results going our way, things could be looking better for the second half of the year. Up next we got Kawasaki next weekend, a team we defeated 2-0 just three weeks ago.