08 December 2009

Mito 2 - 3 Shonan and Year End Wrapup

Mito put forth a huge effort but eventually lost to the stronger team. Just as the loss to Sendai brought that team promotion, this loss allowed Shonan to enter J1. The same thing happened in 2007 when the last game of the season allowed Sapporo in, and Mito came close last year with the last game being at J1-bound Yamagata...

Goals were taken by Nakamura for the second home game in a row and then by Morimura. It was a 2 goal lead created in a span of two minutes, only to be drawn up soon after by Shonan and then the final goal coming in the second half. It could have been won by either side, but there was some joy to see the massive happiness flowing through the away crowd.

The year ends with a few positive notes for the team.

1) This is the first season out of ten with Mito having a winning season. 21 wins, 10 draws, and 20 losses make this narrowly the first season to have more wins than losses.

2) Before the season coach Kiyama aimed for a top 8 finish in the standings, and the team finished in 8th place.

3) Mito finishes in the top half of the standings for the first time.

4) Mito won the inaugural North Kanto Derby trophy, contested by the J2 teams of Ibaraki, Tochigi, and Gunma.

There are no more events scheduled for the year, but hopefully there will be chances to visit players at practices before some bid farewell.

1 comment:

richy said...

Hey mate,
a belated end of season greetings to you!
Although Mito really came undone in the end (so did we!), I think you guys can hold your heads up high. It was great to see you guys whipping everyone mid season and still being in with a chance for promotion two thirds of the way through the season!
Also good to see that Mito still has a soft spot for Gifu. Let that continue in 2010!!

A good year mate, cheers!!!
See ya 2010!