Gamba went into this game in 2nd place in J1 looking to win a real "six-point" game and close the gap on their visitors at the top of the division. The home team started as if they meant business and Kazuma Watanabe was the first man in blue and black to come close, with a header just wide in the 6th minute after a four-man move down the left opened up the Kawasaki Frontale defence. Eight minutes later it was Genta Miura's turn, heading just wide from a corner as he tried to add another important strike to his 2020 record.
In the 20th minute high pressure of the away team's back line resulted in a poor pass across the box that was intercepted by Kosuke Onose, who calmly curled the ball around a defender but saw his sublime shot strike the post with the 'keeper helpless. And so, despite chances and the better parts of the game, Gamba were being held at the break and, just moments into the 2nd half the away team took the lead with a proverbial goal from nowhere.
Frontale attacked, Gamba defended in numbers and kept the ball out of the penalty area but, with four defenders in close attendance Ryota Oshima struck a 20-yard shot as well as he will ever strike a shot and the unsighted Masaaki Higashiguchi didn't even move, helplessly watching the ball sneak in inches from his right-hand post. 1-0 to the bad guys after 48 minutes!
To their credit Frontale did not then sit on their lead and we saw half chances at both ends as Gamba looked for the goal that would bring them back into a game they so richly deserved to get something from, but it was not to be. Takashi Usami saw his 20-yard shot go wide of the post with minutes to go and the home side continued to press up looking for the chance but the game ended with the solitary goal, and disappointment for the socially-distanced home crowd.
Team - Higashiguchi, Takao, Miura, Kim, Onose (Patric, 80), Fujiharu, Ideguchi, Yajima (Endo, 65), Ono (Kurata, 60), Usami, Watanabe (Fukuda, 65)
Attendance: 4925
In the 20th minute high pressure of the away team's back line resulted in a poor pass across the box that was intercepted by Kosuke Onose, who calmly curled the ball around a defender but saw his sublime shot strike the post with the 'keeper helpless. And so, despite chances and the better parts of the game, Gamba were being held at the break and, just moments into the 2nd half the away team took the lead with a proverbial goal from nowhere.
Frontale attacked, Gamba defended in numbers and kept the ball out of the penalty area but, with four defenders in close attendance Ryota Oshima struck a 20-yard shot as well as he will ever strike a shot and the unsighted Masaaki Higashiguchi didn't even move, helplessly watching the ball sneak in inches from his right-hand post. 1-0 to the bad guys after 48 minutes!
To their credit Frontale did not then sit on their lead and we saw half chances at both ends as Gamba looked for the goal that would bring them back into a game they so richly deserved to get something from, but it was not to be. Takashi Usami saw his 20-yard shot go wide of the post with minutes to go and the home side continued to press up looking for the chance but the game ended with the solitary goal, and disappointment for the socially-distanced home crowd.
Team - Higashiguchi, Takao, Miura, Kim, Onose (Patric, 80), Fujiharu, Ideguchi, Yajima (Endo, 65), Ono (Kurata, 60), Usami, Watanabe (Fukuda, 65)
Attendance: 4925