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After the emotional scenes at Omiya Park last weekend, it's on Saturday at Vegalta Sendai that the hard work starts. Ardija have to build upon the stunning 3-0 defeat of Cerezo Osaka; oh, and negotiate their way successfully through the rest of the 2010 J-League season. And an immediate difficulty is that Jang Wae Ryong's team will have to do without two things that worked so much in their favour against Cerezo: star performer Rafael, who looks set to be out for two months with a torn hamstring, plus also the sheer energy which all the players seemed to draw from the presence at the game of Taishi Tsukamoto.

Captain Chikara Fujimoto was quoted after the Cherries match to the effect that Omiya had performed scarily well and he is right to acknowledge that the bar has been well and truly raised. After an encouraging pre-season, we have all seen how the Squirrels can play - with passion, aggression and movement. Of course, this is likely to beg the question for many an exasperated Ardija supporter why the team have not played like that in the past, but it would only be fair to point to the significant contribution made by the new signings, of whom five were in the starting line-up on Sunday.

But Squirrels fans cannot be blamed now for being demanding of the team and of Jang. An Yong Hak has brought steel to the midfield, while sidebacks Arata Sugiyama and Kazuhiro Murakami have pace and a willingness to get forward - as exemplified when Murakami fed Sugiyama for a superb chance that would have made it 3-0 midway through the second half. We have seen Omiya play well in the past, only to be disappointed with their inconsistency. Have Ardija now, at last, made a real step forward in their development as a team and as a club? Saturday gives us our first chance to find out.

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