Ayub Timbe: Kenya winger benched again as Vissel Kobe beat Avispa Fukuoka

Kenya international Ayub Timbe was an unused substitute yet again as Vissel Kobe cruised to a 2-1 win against Avispa Fukuoka in a J1-League match on Saturday.

The Harambee Star has struggled to gain regular playing time since joining the side after ending his stay with Chinese-side Beijing Renhe.

On Saturday, he could not come yet again on as goals from Kyongo Furuhashi in the 2nd minute and former Barcelona star Andres Iniesta in the 80th minute gave Kobe maximum points at Level-5 Stadium.

It was Kobe under coach Thorsten Fink, who started the game on a bright note and they were 1-0 up with only two minutes played when Furuhashi raced onto a through ball from Douglas to loop the ball past advancing Avispa custodian Masaaki Murakami.

However, Avispa drew level in the 19th minute when Yuya Yamagishi started a solo run past Kobe players and was left unmarked to unleash a low-footed effort which beat keeper Daiya Maekawa to the back of the net.

The two teams went into the break tied at 1-1 and Kobe started the second half with the urge to retake the lead but Avispa maintained their defensive line tight.

Kobe had to wait until 10 minutes to the final whistle when Iniesta took the initiative to score from the penalty spot after he had been fouled inside the box by T. Nara, who was shown a straight yellow card for the incident.

Since scoring two goals in Kobe’s 3-0 win against Tokushima Vortis in the Japanese J1-League Cup on May 19, which was his first, Timbe has failed to make the team, always coming on as a substitute but on Saturday he did not come off the bench.

The win has pushed Kobe to position five in the 20 team league table with 31 points from 18 matches while the defeat left Avispa in sixth position as they have accumulated 29 points from 19 matches.

Kawasaki are still topping the log on 55 points from 21 matches, while Nagoya are second on 37 points from 20 matches and Yokohama PM are third with 34 points from 16 outings.

Timbe will be hoping to make a comeback to the starting squad when Kobe take on Yokohama FC in their next league assignment on Wednesday, June 23, at Misaki Park Stadium.