FUKUOKA (Interstat) — Avispa Fukuoka defeated Okayama 2-1 on Saturday, using goals from Yota Maejima and Yu Hashimoto to secure the home result. Maejima opened the scoring in the 7th minute, while Kosuke Shirai equalized for Okayama in the 61st. Hashimoto netted the decider in the 76th minute. Keiya Shiihashi recorded an assist for Avispa Fukuoka, and Yugo Tatsuta had an assist for Okayama. Yellow cards went to Okayama’s Kamiya Yuta in the 36th minute and Browne N. in the 90th minute plus one, along with Avispa Fukuoka’s Shigemi M. in the 47th, Tsujioka Y. in the 67th, Kitajima Y. in the 82nd and Brown A. in the 90th minute plus four. Avispa Fukuoka improved to 1-0 in this competition and 2-1 across all competitions. Okayama fell to 0-1 in this competition and 2-1 overall. Avispa Fukuoka had previously lost to Yokohama FC and beaten Osaka, while Okayama had beaten Chiba and Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo. The match featured multiple second-half substitutions, but the hosts held on after Hashimoto’s late winner.