Tokushima Vortis put Tochigi City to bed early with three-goal victory
Tokushima Vortis secured a comfortable 3-0 win over Tochigi City at Pokarī Sweet Stadium in J-League 2's Regular Season round 8 on Saturday. The hosts took control after H. Teruyama's own goal and subsequent dismissal, then saw D. Watari and Y. Kajiya add second-half goals to seal the result. By then the visitors had been reduced to ten men, and the match settled into a pattern Tokushima managed without difficulty.
The first half produced a dramatic sequence when Teruyama turned against his side in the thirty-ninth minute, followed immediately by a yellow card and red card in the forty-first. The dismissal came just before the interval and changed the complexion of the contest. Tokushima brought on T. Nguen for the second half, but the visitors could not recover from losing a player and conceding a goal in such quick succession.
Watari scored in the fifty-seventh minute and was substituted himself shortly after, adding another layer of rotation for the home side. Kajiya made it 3-0 in the sixty-ninth, and from that point the result was never really in doubt. Tokushima's substitutions continued through the final twenty minutes, with five changes made in total after half-time.
Despite having less possession — 46 per cent compared to Tochigi's 54 — the hosts created more danger. Tokushima registered 15 shots on target against 9 off target, while the visitors managed only 5 on target from 9 attempts. Neither side created a big chance, which suggests the goals came from sustained pressure rather than clear-cut opportunities. And here's the thing, the statistics tell a different story to the result.
The victory moved Tokushima to seventh place on 13 points from eight games, while Tochigi dropped to eleventh with 10 points. The hosts had lost their previous match 5-0 away at Gamba Osaka, but this performance showed a response. To be fair, the away side had won four of their last eight games and carried some momentum into this fixture.
The result means Tokushima can look to build on consistency after a mixed run of form, while Tochigi face a difficult run if they cannot match the intensity shown here. Three goals from limited chances, combined with a disciplinary collapse, proved too much for the visitors to overcome.
