http://www.soccerway.com/match/j-league/tokyo-verdy-1969/shimizu-spulse/548196/Verdy 4 - S-Pulse 1
Kazumichi Takagi scored a contender for own goal of the season and Hulk grabbed a double as Tokyo Verdy thrashed sorry Shimizu S-Pulse 4-1 in the J. League on Sunday.
Under no real pressure, Takagi inexplicably drove an attempted back pass past horrified goalkeeper Yohei Nishibe from distance to gift Verdy the lead after half an hour at Ajinomoto Stadium.
More woeful defending from S-Pulse allowed Hulk to extend Verdy's lead on the stroke of halftime, the Brazilian collecting a Takuya Honda interception to slot home from a tight angle.
Shimizu's hopes of salvaging something from the game were all but put to bed five minutes after the break when Leandro cut inside Naoaki Aoyama to beat Nishibe with a simple finish.
Leandro then turned provider for Hulk to smash home his second of the game on 76 minutes before an Aoyama shot was deflected past Yoichi Doi by a Verdy defender to give the visitors a late consolation.
"All my players were really up for it today. We had a bit of luck with the first goal but we worked really hard for 90 minutes," said Verdy manager Tetsuji Hashiratani.
"Obviously we want to score as many goals as possible but it would have been nice to keep a clean sheet."
Not sure if anyone saw the reports from the Urawa v Osaka match, but it all went off on the pitch after Osaka sneaked a win and then it went off in the stands.
I take it everybody's in for the Urawa away match on the 17th July?
Up Verdy, Up!!!
