Lu Jiang's last-gasp goal secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory for Beijing Guoan against Dalian Shide at Beijing Workers Stadium as the capital club opened up a two-point lead at the top of the Chinese Super League.

Australian international Joel Griffiths gave Beijing the lead after 16 minutes when he superbly chipped advancing keeper Sun Shoubo. However, the visitors made the most of a counter-attack to level in the 69th minute. Dong Fangzhuo laid the ball back to Zhao Honglue and his inviting cross was headed past keeper Yang Zhi by Zambian James Chamanga.

But Beijing nicked the points with six minutes to go when Sun parried Zhang Yonghai's header against Lu and the ball ended up in the net. Dalian's Jonathan Vergara was then sent-off after he collected a second yellow card for a foul on Yang Hao.

"It was a must-win game for us because we had to live up to the fans' expectations," said Beijing's Korean coach Lee Jang-soo. "I was nervous that my players would run out of steam late in the second half because they ran too much in the first-half."

Beijing now lead Shandong Luneng by two points at the top of the table after the latter were held to a goalless draw by Jiangsu Shuntian. Elsewhere, Changchun Yatai got the better of Hangzhou Lucheng 2-0, Tianjin Teda and Henan Jianye played out a goalless draw and Shenzhen Kingway edged out Chengdu Blades 1-0.

Shaanxi Baorong shared the spoils with Changsha Ginde following a 1-1 draw while Qingdao Zhongneng and Guangzhou Guangyao played out a goalless draw.