Vissel started brightly and pressured the Nagoya defence looking for mistake and, indeed, Yoshida made Tulio look average on the left wing, forcing the clumsy defender to rugby tackle the Vissel forward to the ground before he got into the area.
Incredibly – for a referee who gave eight yellow cards and two reds to Shimizu S-Pulse two weeks ago – referee Mr. Nishimura did not even produce a yellow card for what could easily have warranted a red, and it was at the other end in the 8th minute that Nozawa completely mis-kicked what seemed an easy clearance and Fujimoto had a free shot which he saw saved high up in the corner buy Tokushige in the Vissel goal. The home keeper also got his hand to Kennedy’s follow-up shot to keep the scores level.

Nagai tried to chip one into the far corner in the 16th minute but, again Tokushige earned his salary with another one-handed save. Ogawa forced a save from Grampus keeper Narazaki in the 28th minute, while Park hit the post with a 25 yarder that rebounded out to Ogawa. The youngster slipped it back to Nozawa and his cross found Yoshida who saw his header tipped over the bar. Minutes before half time Kennedy pulled a low cross back from the byeline and Tamada got a foot to it and the ball sneaked in between Tokushige and Vissel centre back Kitamoto for a fortunate opening goal against the run of play.

Vissel pushed for the equaliser and it was Okubo, on as a sub, who robbed a dithering defender and advanced on Narazaki but the Japan national team forward saw his shot sneak past the keeper AND the post and Vissel were not to make it three wins in-a-row from interim coach Adachi.