Colombian striker Duvier Riascos scored with five minutes remaining as Shanghai Shenhua extended their lead at the top of the Chinese Super League to five points heading into the FIFA World Cup 2010™ break by edging out Changchun Yatai 1-0 today.

With Shandong Luneng being held to a 2-2 draw by Henan Jianye, Liaoning beat Dalian Shide 2-0 to take over second place. At Hongkou Stadium, Feng Renliang fired over for Shanghai after 17 minutes before home goalkeeper Wang Dalei denied Changchun's Johnny Woodly Lambert midway through the first half.

Wang was again called into action just before the break to superbly turn away Ricardo Steer's header. Shanghai dominated in the second half and with five minutes remaining the home side were rewarded as Riascos outjumped Honduran Jorge Samuel Caballero to head home.

"The victory over Changchun has boosted my confidence," said Shanghai manager Miroslav Blazevic. "I wouldn't lie, I've never thought that we could have secured pole position. We now want to hold onto our leading position by playing better football in the coming matches."

Shandong had fought back from Obi Moneke's 20th-minute opener for Henan to claim the half-time lead with goals from Jinyu Li and Haibin Zhou. But Xu Yang's equaliser five minutes after the break earned the visitors a point to drop Shandong to third as Yu Hanchao and Xiaohui Qu scored in the second half to secure Liaoning all three points at Dalian.

Shuntian prevails, Guoan stagnant
Elsewhere, Jiangsu Shuntian edged a five-goal first half to beat Chongqing Lifan 3-2. The visitors took a third-minute lead through Tan Si before Luis Cucchi Eber added a second 14 minutes later. A 26th-minute penalty from Jose Duarte halved the deficit before the Brazilian striker equalised three minutes before the break for Chongqing. But two minutes later Luis' second proved crucial as Jiangsu moved up to eighth place with just a second win of the season.

Finally, defending champions Beijing Guoan extended their winless run to five games with a goalless draw at Tianjin Taida, Alberto Antonio Beto scored twice as Nanchang Bayi beat basement side Qingdao Zhongneng 2-0 and Changsha Jinde shared a 1-1 draw with Shanxi Zhongxin.