Honduran striker Luis Ramirez converted a penalty early in the second half to hand Hangzhou Greentown their first victory in seven Chinese Super League games with a 1-0 triumph over Liaoning Zhongyu at Hangzhou Yellow Dragon Stadium.

Ramirez earned the spot-kick eight minutes into the second half when he was brought down by goalkeeper Zhang Lu and made no mistake in blasting home.

Liaoning wasted their chance to grab a point when Zhao Junzhe missed a penalty a quarter of an hour before the end.

The home side were on top in the opening 45 minutes with Mao Jianqing creating plenty of trouble for the Liaoning defence, but they were unable to break the deadlock due to Zhang's fine form.

Ba Li had a great chance for Hangzhou four minutes after the break, but with only Zhang to beat, the keeper made a superb save to deny him.

We had problems in defence today.
Liaoning coach Ma Lin

Four minutes later, Ramirez was one-on-one with Zhang, but this time the latter felled the Honduran in the box and he powered home the penalty

Chinese international Yang Xu forced keeper Jiang Bo into a reflex save when he headed Zhao's corner towards the goal before the visitors were awarded a penalty when defender Du Wei handled in the area. Zhao, though, hit the bar from the spot.

"We had problems in defence today," said Liaoning coach Ma Lin. "We were punished for loose defending and we deserved it. Nonetheless, I think our overall performance was fairly good."

Liaoning are now in the third place with 30 points, 14 points adrift of leaders Guangzhou Evergrande. Hangzhou, meanwhile, have 26 points in sixth.