Oita Trinita hosted Shonan Bellmare in the opening round of the J-League 2 regular season on August 8th, and the visitors took all three points with a 1-0 victory. The match ended with a single goal, and Shonan's workrate was enough to move them up to 10th from the bottom half. By then, the hosts had already seen their attacking intentions curtail.
The decisive moment arrived in the 43rd minute when H. Yamada finished his run to put Shonan ahead. Before that, Y. Misao had picked up a yellow card in the 40th, and the hosts were left flat-footed when the goal fell. Matheus Pereira went off the side of the bed in the 51st minute with a booking, and the game settled into a rhythm Oita couldn't break.
Shonan brought on H. Yamada himself in the 86th minute, and the rest of the substitutions were routine. D. Furukawa came off in the 67th, followed by N. Kase at 74 and K. Arima at 75. Y. Suzuki, I. Oda, and K. Dohana — who had been booked in the 71st — wrapped up the hour. S. Takeda picked up a late yellow in the 90th, and that was the lot.
Oita enjoyed 53 per cent of possession but managed just one shot on target from eight attempts, while Shonan converted seven of theirs with more precision. The hosts registered 85 attacks against 88 for the visitors, but corners told a different story — two to eight in Shonan's favour. And here's the thing, chances went begging on both sides, but the away team took the one they needed.
In the table, Shonan sit 10th with eight points after five games — two wins, two draws, one loss. Oita remain 15th on five points, their record reading one win, two draws, two defeats. The gap between them is three points, and Shonan's win is back in full training for a promotion push. Oita, meanwhile, are running out of games before they can turn things around.