Japanese Non-league Football News

It was mostly a day of close games on Sunday in the Kyushu League, as the teams finished off round 4 following on from Honda Lock's defeat of Nanakuma Tombies on Saturday. Nippon Steel Oita kept their perfect start to the season going with a 1-0 win in Kagoshima against the students of Osumi NIFS United, while Kaiho Bank SC moved away from the foot of the table with their first win points of the season thanks to a 2-0 defeat of newly promoted Kumamoto Teachers.

A goal in each half from midfield man Tomoki Hideka took the somewhat underperforming New Wave Kitakyushu past Okinawa Kariyushi. But the match of the day was undoubtedly the derby clash in Nagasaki, where Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki sensationally led 1-0 at half time against local rivals and big guns V Varen Nagasaki. The 2006 champions and this season's favourites nevertheless fought back after half time and a hat-trick from ex-Rosso Kumamoto forward Keisuke Shuto contributed to a 6-1 win.



Shota Hirata, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ scorer in the derby match

Sun 15 Apr: Kumamoto Teachers 0-2 Kaiho Bank SC
Sun 15 Apr: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki 1-6 V Varen Nagasaki
Sun 15 Apr: Okinawa Kariyushi 0-2 New Wave Kitakyushu
Sun 15 Apr: Osumi NIFS United 0-1 Nippon Steel Oita

1. V Varen Nagasaki 12 (+24)
2. Nippon Steel Oita 12 (+12)
3. Honda Lock 9 (+15)
4. New Wave Kitakyushu 9 (+6)
5. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki 6 (-8)
6. Volca Kagoshima 5 (+6)
7. Okinawa Kariyushi 3 (-2)
8. Kaiho Bank SC 3 (-14)
9. Osumi NIFS United 1 (-9)
10. Kumamoto Teachers 0 (-11)
11. Nanakuma Tombies 0 (-19)



A most peculiar image of Kaiho Bank SC