Makidai Zelvia secured a 2:1 win over Kawasaki Frontale in the fifth round of J-League 1 at Makidai Stadium on Tuesday evening. The home side took all three points despite being outshot in the second half, with Koki Ogawa's brace deciding matters. It extended Zelvia's unbeaten run to eight games and left Kawasaki winless in their last three league outings.
Yasuto Wakizaka gave the visitors the lead in the fifty-ninth minute, a moment that shifted the tempo. By then Kawasaki had settled into their rhythm, though Zelvia refused to let the scoreboard dictate their approach. Ogawa equalised in the seventy-fifth and completed his double six minutes later, turning the match on its head. The home side had opened talks about pushing forward after the break, and the changes reflected that intention.
There were plenty of bodies moved around the pitch. Tete Yengi came on in the sixtieth minute, followed by Derik Lacerda and Marcio Augusto da Silva Barbosa both in the sixty-fourth. Takuma Nishimura, Hokuto Shimoda and Ryuho Kikuchi were all introduced in the sixty-sixth, while Kawasaki responded with Tatsuya Ito in the seventy-eighth and a triple change in the eighty-eighth. The old head settled them down after the first goal, but the visitors never stopped pushing.
Zelvia dominated possession territory with 48 per cent against Kawasaki's 52, but the numbers tell only part of the story. The home side registered twelve key passes compared to seven, and created five big chances to Kawasaki's one. Shots accuracy stood at 0.43 for Zelvia versus 0.22 for the visitors, and six of their eleven shots found the target. Kawasaki made more passes in the opposition half — 275 to 260 — but the chances went begging.
The result moves Zelvia further clear in third place with ten points from four matches. Kawasaki remain seventh on six points, their draw record keeping them aloft but their inability to convert points into wins growing more pronounced. The history between them adds an edge to this fixture, and tonight Zelvia proved they can handle the pressure when it matters.
