With fans increasingly calling for change after five straight losses in the J. League’s first division, FC Tokyo manager Kenta Hasegawa went into Saturday’s game away at Kashiwa Reysol knowing that another loss would likely leave him in the hot seat.
He needn’t worry for now after his Tokyo side struck early and often in a 4-0 win at Sankyo Frontier Stadium in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, with Brazilian striker Adailton assisting the first goal before scoring the next two — all within an eight-minute span that helped to seal the visitors’ first league victory since April 7.
“It’s special to get a first win in a while,” Hasegawa said. “After losing to Kashima, we saw that if we didn’t play well on the ball we wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything.