Soccer-Guangzhou stay clear in China after comeback win
BEIJING, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Substitute Yu Hanchao struck a 95th minute header to give Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande a 2-1 comeback win over Shanghai Shenxin in a bad-tempered Super League clash on Saturday. Yu darted to the near post to meet Brazilian midfielder Rene Junior's inswinging cross from the left and seal their sixth consecutive league win, maintaining their six-point advantage at the top of the table with five games to go. That looked in doubt early on after they wasted a number of chances in the first period against Shanghai, who made them pay when Brazilian forward Everton stroked a low shot home in the 62nd minute after the visitors countered down the right. Shanghai were left furious in the 76th minute when they were denied a penalty kick after Guangzhou goalkeeper Zeng Cheng appeared to bring down Jailton Paraiba in the area. The referee opted to book the Brazilian forward for diving to the dismay of the Shanghai bench who angrily protested. Guangzhou made the most of the near miss by levelling with eight minutes remaining when striker Gao Lin headed his eighth league goal of the season before Yu's late dramatic effort. Second-placed Beijing Guoan matched Guangzhou's result after Swede Erton Fejzullahu scored twice in their 2-1 comeback victory at home to midtable Tianjin Teda. Brazilian midfielder Andrezinho curled in a brilliant right-foot free kick in the 36th minute to give the visitors the lead only for Beijing to go right back up the other end a minute later and equalise. The on-loan Fejzullah found far too much space to hook home from six yards and the 26-year-old was also carelessly given too much room to bag the winner with 20 minutes remaining, pulling out to the penalty spot to stab home a cross and seal a third straight league win. The top two sides faces off in Guangzhou next month in what could be a pivotal clash in the penultimate game of the season. (Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; Editing by Ian Ransom)
