Monteio Yamagata completed a comfortable away victory against Imabari with a 3-0 win at ASICS Sato-Yama Stadium on Saturday. The result leaves the visitors in second place with nine points from four matches, while the hosts remain bottom of J-League 2 with zero points after four defeats.
And here's the thing — the match turned on the twenty-first minute. G. Ito received a red card just moments after the referee's whistle, leaving Imabari with ten men for the remainder of the contest. To be fair, Yamagata had already been pressing, but the numerical advantage shifted everything.
J. Takahashi opened the scoring at the fifty-ninth minute, capitalising on the pressure Imabari could no longer withstand. The Japanese striker made no mistake from distance, and by then the visitors were playing with confidence rather than caution.
Takahashi doubled his tally at the eightieth minute, a clinical finish that effectively ended any hope of a comeback. Yamagata's substitutions at that stage — K. Kikuchi brought on for K. Kikuchi at 81 minutes — showed they were managing their energy for the final whistle.
A.S. Disaro added a third in stoppage time at 90+3 minutes, completing a comprehensive performance. The away side had made six changes across the match, with S. Doi, K. Enomoto, E. Junio, and H. Abe all given minutes alongside the two goalscorers.
The statistics tell the story of dominance. Yamagata recorded 96 attacks to Imabari's 81, but more telling was their 6 shots on target against just 2. Possession sat at 56% for the visitors, though that figure matters less than how they used the ball when it came to them.
Imabari's position in the table — twentieth place, four games, zero points — reflects a difficult start to the season. They had won their previous match 4-1 against Blaublitz Akita, but that victory meant little against this performance. Yamagata, meanwhile, held firm in second place with three wins from four outings.