Just to confirm OF's point that reserve defender Daiki Niwa - currently on loan from Gamba Osaka - has in turn been rented out to Avispa Fukuoka until the end of January 2009. The 22-year-old, who spent last year as a mainstay in the back four at J2 minnows Tokushima Vortis, has made only two appearances in the Nabisco Cup for Ardija.

It may have been Koji Ezumi who was at fault for Oita Trinita's late winner on Sunday, but nevertheless it was also the Squirrels' keeper who had kept his team on level terms throughout a predictably difficult encounter. That Omiya subsequently travelled back from Kyushu to Saitama without any points in the bag was not in itself a surprise - but the reliance on their goalkeeper, coupled with an inability to create chances, emphasised quite how fragile the notion of progress under Yasuhiro Higuchi is.

The Squirrels have picked up some undeniably good results this season - but without Denis Marques in the side, there is little to distinguish Omiya of 2008 from last year's desperate team, which as Squirrels fans will recall avoided relegation only by the narrowest of margins. Against Oita, Klemen Lavric offered some attacking threat, but he needs service to be at his most dangerous; Kota Yoshihara, Daigo Kobayashi and Chikara Fujimoto have shown only the briefest glimpses of creative play this season, and none at all were in evidence in Sunday's match.

And so for the visit to Omiya Park of Yokohama F Marinos on Thursday, Higuchi urgently needs to identify an alternative route to goal. If Lavric can't do it all on his own, the former Bundesliga player is at least a valuable addition to the squad and a focus to the Ardija attack that was lacking throughout 2007. Yoshihara was replaced after an hour against Trinita after having contributed not a single attempt on goal, leaving Omiya supporters to wonder what would be lost if youngsters such as Kohei Tokita or even Masahiko Ichikawa were to be given a run-out in the starting line-up.

As a look at the bottom of the standings seems to suggest that it will now be difficult for JEF United and Consadole Sapporo to fight their way out of the automatic relegation places, Ardija still need to ensure between now and the beginning of December that there is at least one more club that is weaker than them in J1. Until recently, the under-performing and wildly inconsistent Marinos might have been that club, but seven points from the three matches since the re-start would indicate that the Sailors are moving in the right direction, despite leading scorer Roni having jumped ship for Gamba Osaka. The pressure in turn increases on Higuchi and his charges to climb back up towards mid-table security.

... and Koji Ezumi's fumble in full is here.

J1 Game 22, Sun 24 Aug 08

Oita Trinita 1-0 Omiya Ardija

1-0 Morishige 86'

GK Ezumi (7)
DF Murayama (5)
DF Leandro (6)
DF Tomita (6)
DF Hato (6)
MF Daigo Kobayashi (5) (Hashimoto 75')
MF Saito (5)
MF Kataoka (5)
MF Fujimoto (5) (Tokita 84')
FW Yoshihara (4) (Kanazawa 56') (5)
FW Lavric (5)

Subs not used

GK Aratani
DF Tanaka
FW Morita
FW Ichihara

Cards

Y Saito 6'
Y Hashimoto 85'

Guile, incision, attacking ability - none of these areas were present in Kyushu's Big Eye stadium on Sunday, as Omiya Ardija turned in a limp display that duly ended with a late winner for high-flying Oita Trinita. The absence through suspension of key forward Denis Marques underlined the extent to which the Squirrels are a one-paced, even sluggish team that is not able to create enough decent opportunities to convert. Stand-in striker Kota Yoshihara had his usual nightmare, invisible from start to finish - and were it not for keeper Koji Ezumi continually bailing out his team-mates with spectacular saves, the scoreline would have been much worse.

Ardija had a few shots in the first half and the best of those fell to Klemen Lavric in the third minute. The big Slovenian managed to wriggle his way around two Trinita defenders, but then placed a relatively straightforward shot that Oita's U23 international netminder Shusaku Nishikawa dealt with comfortably. Chikara Fujimoto put himself about in the midfield although not to great effect - and the two main chances in the opening period fell to the home side, free-kicks from Shingo Suzuki and burly veteran Ueslei that were saved well by Ezumi.

The second half was forgettable fare indeed until the final ten minutes when Omiya seemed to come to life, albeit for a brief time. Long-range efforts from Yosuke Kataoka and substitute Hayato Hashimoto at least made the game more exciting although almost inevitably Yasuhiro Higuchi's side capitulated at the end. The previously imperious Ezumi totally misjudged a corner and young midfielder Masato Morishige was on hand to stroke home in the 86th minute. The pressure is back on for Thursday's crunch match with Yokohama F Marinos.

After picking up maximum points from their games with Consadole Sapporo and Gamba Osaka, Omiya Ardija make the long trip to Kyushu on Sunday for a difficult-looking encounter with Oita Trinita. Prior to kick-off, it is tough to imagine that the Squirrels are anything more than outsiders when it comes to keeping going their winning streak.

Trinita's coach Pericles Chamusca has done a superb job to take his team as high as fourth in the J1 standings on such limited resources and indeed Oita are currently unbeaten since mid-May. Basing their approach on a strong and aggressive defence, Chamusca's side are hardly prolific in front of goal - their veteran top scorer Ueslei has scored only five - but keeper Shusaku Nishikawa presides over the back line with easily the best record in the league.

This is hardly the ideal time, then for the Squirrels to be without two key members of their line-up. Star forward and top scorer Denis Marques is suspended following the straight red card he picked up against Gamba, while midfield lynchpin Yoshiyuki Kobayashi faces a month on the sidelines through injury.

New forward Klemen Lavric is likely to be key for Ardija, both in terms of the absence of Denis and the physical challenge that is presented by the Oita defence. But a likely return to the starting line-up of under-performing forward Kota Yoshihara and midfielder Yosuke Kataoka would suggest that coming away from Kyushu with a point may be the most that Omiya supporters can expect.

Ardija midfielder and captain Yoshiyuki Kobayashi will be out of action for around four weeks after having picked up a calf injury in training on Tuesday.

Satellite League Group B Game 4, Sun 17 Aug 08

Albirex Niigata 2-2 Omiya Ardija

1-0 Kawamata 42'
1-1 Hashimoto 46'
1-2 Hashimoto 59'
2-2 Japan Soccer College trialist 82'

GK Aratani
DF Nishimura (Kawahara 45')
DF Tanaka
DF Niwa
DF Tsukamoto
MF Hashimoto (Kawanabe 73')
MF Kataoka
MF Aoki
MF Tokita
FW Yoshihara (Ichikawa 65')
FW Sakurai (Morita 63')

Sub not used

GK Nobuhisa Kobayashi

J1 Game 21, Sat 16 Aug 08

Omiya Ardija 2-0 Gamba Osaka

1-0 Denis Marques 4'
2-0 Leandro 43'

GK Ezumi (8)
DF Murayama (7)
DF Leandro (8)
DF Tomita (7)
DF Hato (7)
MF Daigo Kobayashi (8)
MF Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (7)
MF Saeki (8) (Saito 76')
MF Fujimoto (8) (Kanazawa 72') (6)
FW Lavric (6) (Morita 61') (6)
FW Denis Marques (8)

Subs not used

GK Aratani
DF Tanaka
MF Yoshihara
FW Sakurai

Cards

Y Daigo Kobayashi 61'
R Denis Marques 68'

Yasuhiro Higuchi fielded what is looking like his preferred full-strength Ardija side against Gamba Osaka - and the team successfully overcame their recent Omiya Park jinx with a deserved win. Somewhat unusually, the Squirrels began the game well and took the lead just four minutes in, when Klemen Lavric's header from a Yusuke Murayama cross appeared to have crossed the line. Eventually, however, the rebound off goalkeeper Yosuke Fujigaya fell to the right boot of Denis Marques, who made no mistake from inside the six-yard area.

Long range efforts from Chikara Fujimoto, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi and a couple of Daigo Kobayashi free kicks also went close. But Omiya finally notched up another goal just before half time, when Daigo floated in a corner from the left and central defender Leandro rose to angle a perfect bullet header past the keeper. The Squirrels subsequently went into the break two goals to the good.

Gamba coach Akira Nishino tried to change things around at the start of the second half and the previously impotent visitors were much more threatening, especially when former Marinos player Roni entered the fray for the subdued Masato Yamazaki. Squirrels net-minder Koji Ezumi had to make some decent saves and the likes of Lucas and Yasuhito Endo both came close.

The main talking point of the second 45 minutes was nevertheless the dismissal of Denis Marques, who once again had a fine game and had run the Gamba defence ragged. But Ardija's top scorer seemed to lose his temper when shielding the ball on the ground and lashed out at a Gamba player directly in front of the referee. His red card and subsequent suspension was the only negative point of a good day for an improving Omiya ahead of next week's difficult-looking trip to high-flying Oita Trinita.

GGOA has in recent weeks been in touch with fans of NK Rudar Trbovlje, a team playing in the Ljubljana section of the fourth division in the Slovenian league. Rudar is the home town club of Ardija's striker Klemen Lavric, who took his first steps as a footballer with them at the age of ten in 1991. He went on to play several matches for the first team, scoring a number of goals at a time when Rudar were a second division side.

NK Rudar Trbovlje were formed in 1922 and in the 80s reached the second division of the league in what was at that time federal Yugoslavia, having on three occasions been local champions in Slovenia. The club's decline began in 1992 when they were relegated out of the Slovenian first division and they have since 2002 been playing in Division 4.

As well as Klemen, Rudar is also the home club of fellow international Miso Brecko and they have a reputation for bringing on young players, with over 150 youngsters currently on their books. Over the winter the club redeveloped their ground, Stadion Rudar, which has a capacity of 2000 (1100 seats) and they are aiming for promotion to the third division in the forthcoming season.



They have a new stadium, too



Rudar's predecessor club, ŠK Zora



Klemen Lavric in 1991/2, in the middle of the back row

With thanks to Tito at NK Rudar Trbovlje.si for his help in providing information and for permission to reproduce the photos that accompany this article.

After last Saturday's win over a conveniently weakened Consadole Sapporo side - a 2-1 scoreline that could and should have been greater - Omiya Ardija tomorrow return to a task that has confounded them since early April. For it was then that the Squirrels last won a league match at Omiya Park, a 2-0 defeat of Oita Trinita that was lit up by two superb pieces of shooting from Masato Saito.

Since then, Ardija have singularly failed to put together any kind of home form and while they have to a great extent been rescued by some terrific results achieved away from home, Yasuhiro Higuchi has throughout 2008 been unable to inject into his charges a level of consistency. A hard-fought 3-2 win at tomorrow's opponents Gamba Osaka, for example, was immediately followed by a crushing defeat in Saitama by FC Tokyo.

But the signs are there that Higuchi is beginning to put in place a team with some backbone. Slovenian Klemen Lavric continues to settle into life in the J-League and netted a deserved goal in Sapporo; he has also in the main avoided any of the disciplinary problems that dogged Salles, the last big foreign forward brought to Japan by Omiya. After an impressive display against Consadole, it's to be hoped that Lavric will retain his place up front alongside Denis Marques, at the expense of goalshy Kota Yoshihara.

In the centre, Naoya Saeki would appear to have made his own the key role of holding midfielder and is now enjoying his longest run in the first team since moving to Ardija from Vissel Kobe. Daigo Kobayashi, too, showed some glimpses in Hokkaido that he may be returning to form and was unlucky on a couple of occasions not to find the net.

It's to be hoped that these positives will pay off for Higuchi in terms of more consistent results - but Gamba's season, complicated by their Asian Champions League obligations, has also been particularly up and down. Following the sale of top scorer and ex-Squirrels legend Bare, the Blue-and-Blacks find themselves on a run of one win in seven matches, with even that modest triumph coming at lowly JEF United.

The weekend saw Gamba slip to a 2-1 defeat at Yokohama F Marinos, their goal a rare effort from midfielder Takahiro Futagawa - whereas what the 2005 champions need as a priority is to be reassured that Lucas can fill the void left by Bare's departure. Now is probably as good a time as any for Omiya to be hosting Gamba and a dominant performance from the key players mentioned above would go some way towards securing three more vital J1 points.

Omiya Ardija have already announced their first signing for next season in the form of defender Shunsuke Fukuda, a defender currently at Hosei University. The 22-year-old will join the club when he completes his studies, in time for the commencement of the 2009 campaign.

Satellite League Group B Game 3, Sun 10 Aug 08

Omiya Ardija 0-1 Tokyo Verdy

0-1 Hiroyama 32'

GK Aratani
DF Aoki
DF Tanaka
DF Niwa
DF Tsukamoto
MF Tokita
MF Saito (Kawahara 69')
MF Kanazawa
MF Hashimoto (Ichikawa 45')
FW Sakurai (Morita 45')
FW Yoshihara (Kawanabe 60')

Sub not used

GK Shimizu

Yosuke Kataoka will miss Saturday's match with Gamba Osaka after the defensive midfield man picked up his fourth yellow card of the season against Consadole Sapporo.

A clip of highlights from Ardija's 2-1 win at Consadole Sapporo on Saturday is on Youtube, here.

J1 Game 20, Sat 09 Aug 08

Consadole Sapporo 1-2 Omiya Ardija

1-0 Anderson 2'
1-1 Lavric 9'
1-2 Denis Marques 56'

GK Ezumi (6)
DF Murayama (7)
DF Leandro (6)
DF Kataoka (6)
DF Hato (6)
MF Daigo Kobayashi (7) (Saito 83')
MF Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (7)
MF Saeki (8)
MF Fujimoto (6) (Hashimoto 86')
FW Lavric (7)
FW Denis Marques (7) (Morita 89')

Subs not used

GK Aratani
DF Tanaka
MF Sakurai
FW Yoshihara

Cards

Y Leandro 2'
Y Kataoka 44'
Y Lavric 76'

At last Omiya Ardija brought to an end their winless streak on Saturday, with a dominant performance against a poor Consadole Sapporo team. To the surprise - not to say alarm - of Squirrels fans, coach Yasuhiro Higuchi kept Yosuke Kataoka alongside Leandro in the centre of defence despite first-choice Daisuke Tomita being apparently available again following suspension. Up front, Higuchi awarded a first start to Klemen Lavric, after a series of encouraging displays as a substitute.

But things did not start well. As early as the second minute, Leandro foolishly hauled down Consa forward Anderson in the six-yard area when a cross came in from the left. Out came the yellow card for the big Ardija defender and Anderson scored the resultant penalty, despite Koji Ezumi almost getting a hand to it.

Sapporo's lead was almost doubled by the same player shortly afterwards, when he had the ball in the net from a header. It looked as if Omiya were 2-0 down, but the goal was disallowed for mystifying reasons: no-one was offside and there was no foul on the replay. In the resulting confusion, the Squirrels equalised through Lavric's brilliant left-footed volley following a cross from the right from Denis Marques: a terrific way for the Slovenian to get off the mark in the J-League.

After that, it really was one-way traffic from Ardija. Leandro had a point-blank header saved by the impressive Sapporo reserve goalkeeper Yuya Sato, Daigo Kobayashi had a shot tipped around the post and it looked like Omiya would score with every attack - but being the Squirrels, of course the score stayed at one apiece.

But at last, Ardija edged ahead eleven minutes into the second half through Denis Marques, who was tripped in the box and got up to take the penalty himself. In fact Denis' kick was saved by Sato, but the rebound luckily fell to Omiya's top scorer and he made no mistake in notching up his seventh of the year.

By this point the referee presumably thought two penalties were enough for any match, as he astonishingly waved away Squirrels claims when Daigo was unceremoniously pulled back and then hacked to the ground. But there were no real dramas for Ezumi as the Omiya defence held firm and Denis almost grabbed a second, but for yet another brilliant save from the Dosanko custodian. 2-1 to Omiya, but it could have been a lot more.

After a curiously-timed break of one weekend, J1 recommences tomorrow, with Omiya Ardija travelling north to Hokkaido for a potentially crucial clash with Consadole Sapporo. The teams met as recently as mid-May, when ex-Squirrels boss Toshiya Miura returned to Saitama to inflict a 2-1 defeat on his former charges, who put in a particularly poor performance on a rainy afternoon at Omiya Park.

Since that time, Yasuhiro Higuchi's team have picked up just seven points from seven games and are currently on a run of having scored just once in five outings - relegation form, by any other name. Ardija seem to have fallen into the habit of starting matches badly, going behind and therefore leaving themselves chasing the game. Too many players are now too badly out of form to enable any kind of fight-back to occur.

That said, some of Higuchi's substitutions lately have had a reasonably positive effect on the team, the likes of wide midfielder Hayato Hashimoto showing some sign of being able to link up with fellow bench resident Klemen Lavric. Even fans' favourite Hiroshi Morita deserves some credit for almost nicking three points in the last fixture against Shimizu S-Pulse.

No doubt Squirrels fans would be pleased to see Slovenian international Lavric begin a match for the first time as an Omiya player against Consadole. And a partnership with top scorer Denis Marques would appear to be the option most likely to pay dividends, given how consistently Kota Yoshihara has failed to deliver the goods this season. But the giant former Duisburg player needs good service to make the most of his talents - and right now, it's hard to see who's going to provide that service.