26 Mar 2009(Thu)

March 24, 2009: There is no better sight to stir the FC Tokyo fans than that of Naohiro Ishikawa flying down the right wing and sending a low cross fizzing into the box.

And while we saw a bit of that on Saturday at home to Montedio Yamagata, it was another aspect of Ishikawa's game that really stood out: his defence.

Time and again Ishikawa would be racing back, putting the visitors under pressure and trying to regain possession.

In a match FC Tokyo needed to win after a dreadful start to the new campaign, Ishikawa played like a man possessed in his efforts to deliver three points.

When he was substituted after 62 minutes, Ishikawa had given it all, and thoroughly deserved his generous ovation from the Tokyo fans.

Although it does not show it on the J.League result sheet, the 27-year-old right winger had played a huge part in the only goal of the game, 10 minutes into the second half.

The official match sheet picks up with Nagatomo's barnstorming run down the left, his pass to Cabore and the lay-off to Hanyu, who controlled the ball with his right foot and stroked it home with his left. But it was Ishikawa scrapping away in midfield that gave Nagatomo the chance to break, so the goal came from Ishikawa's defence rather than his attack.

Shortly after the goal, Yamagata right back Takuya Miyamoto went in hard and heavy on Ishikawa, and was lucky to receive only a yellow card when a red would not have been excessive. The Tokyo bench were furious with the challenge, and Ishikawa was soon replaced by Suzuki.

In the end, Tokyo hung on for their first points of the season, on manager Jofuku's 48th birthday.

"JFK" would not have been happy with how his team played in the four minutes of injury time, though, as Nagatomo committed a needless foul deep in Yamagata territory to allow the visitors to turn and come forward, and Hirayama gave the ball away on the halfway line with a careless piece of play when it needed a cool head and calm control.

The game also brought a J.League debut for 18-year-old Yonemoto, who came on as a late substitute in central midfield alongside the "Guv'nor", Konno, allowing Kajiyama to push out wide.

This resulted in both match-winner Hanyu and new boy Yonemoto performing the traditional victory celebration in front of the Tokyo Kop after the game, and the Tokyo fans were happy at last.

ends