Second-half strikes by Joel Griffiths and Wang Xiaolong helped Beijing Guoan get their 2010 Chinese Super League campaign off to a good start as the capital club beat newly-promoted Nanchang Bayi 2-0 at Beijing Workers' Stadium.

The reigning champions, who were handed a 3-1 defeat by Korean side Seongnam Ilhwa in an Asian Champions League Group E contest on Tuesday, and the visitors were determined to put on a performance fit for the occasion at a time when Chinese football is mired in matchfixing and corruption scandals.

It was a wonderful game and a hard-fought victory for Beijing.
Coach Hong Yuanshuo after the opening win

With Wednesday's crucial ACL home showdown against Seongnam in mind, coach Hong Yuanshuo named key players like Griffiths and Yang Hao on the bench. However, Beijing still created a series of attacking threats from the outset.

Du Wenhui proved a constant threat to the opposing defence with a couple of efforts of note before the half-hour mark, though neither of the drives was on target.

Yan Xiangchuang came close to an opening goal when he received the ball on the edge of the box following goalkeeper Cheng Xiaopeng's failed clearance in the 32nd minute, only to see his volley fly just over the crossbar.

Hong brought Griffiths on for Erivaldo Antonio Saraiva at the beginning of the second period and the substitution paid off inside 11 minutes. The Australian outpaced two Nanchang defenders to latch onto Xu Yunlong's cross and coolly head past Cheng to put Beijing in front.

Nine minutes from time, an unmarked Wang collected substitute Yang Hao's corner before firing past Cheng to lock up victory for Beijing.

"It was a wonderful game and a hard-fought victory for Beijing," said Hong. "I am extremely happy that Wang Xiaolong displayed his good footwork and became our scoring hero today."

In other games, Shandong Luneng got the better of Hangzhou Lucheng 4-2, Henan Jianye defeated Chongqing Lifan 2-0, Changchun Yatai and Liaoning played out a goalless draw and Changsha Ginde overpowered Shanghai Shenhua 2-0.