Cerezo Osaka beat Shimizu S-Pulse 1-0 at Kintcho Stadium on Saturday. It was a tight affair in the Regular Season - 3 of the J-League 1. By the end, the home side had taken all three points.
The deadlock broke in the 62nd minute when Thiago Andrade found the net. Before that, the game had been a tactical standoff. Andrade’s strike put the game to bed early in the second half.
The tempo was checked by a series of bookings. Oh Se-Hun and Solomon Sakuragawa picked up yellow cards just before and after the interval. Shinnosuke Hatanaka and Mateus Brunetti also went into the book later. Shinji Kagawa was among the first changes, coming on in the 46th minute.
Cerezo Osaka controlled the ball with 58 percent possession. They registered five shots on target but managed just one big chance. To be fair, Shimizu S-Pulse created four big chances yet could only hit the frame three times. The numbers show the hosts were clinical when it mattered.
The result leaves Cerezo Osaka in sixth place with 9 points from 5 games. Shimizu S-Pulse stay in 16th place with 4 points. The hosts needed the points badly after a heavy defeat in their previous outing.