Adelaide United's perfect start to their AFC Champions League campaign ended today with a 1-0 defeat at Pohang Steelers.

The A-League side enjoyed victories in their first two Group E games, against Bunyodkor and Gamba Osaka last month, but slipped to a first loss following Kim Dae-ho's decisive strike midway through the second half at Pohang Steelyard.

The result saw the Korea Republic-based club move joint top, with an identical record to that of their Australian rivals after three matches.

In today's other Group G game, Gamba picked up their first win of the group stage with a 3-1 home triumph over Bunyodkor. Yasuhito Endo set the hosts on their way with the opening goal after 14 minutes and a second-half Rafinha brace, the second from the penalty spot, made sure of the win before Anvarjon Soliev grabbed an 88th-minute consolation for the visitors.

The victory lifted the J.League club off the bottom of the group standings at the expense of their Uzbek opponents.

Elsewhere, Nagoya Grampus Eight moved top of Group G thanks to a 3-0 win at Tianjin Taida. Jungo Fujimoto's 24th-minute strike put the away team in the ascendancy and further goals after the break from Keiji Tamada and Kensuke Nagai sealed an emphatic victory against the Chinese club, who had drawn their first two games.

The Central Coast Mariners remained without a win after notching their third consecutive draw. The Mariners, who finished the match with ten men following the dismissal of Joshua Rose, had enough chances to beat Seongnam Chunma but had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford.

Striker Adam Kwasnik opened the scoring for the home team five minutes into the second half before Everton Santos replied for the K-League club in the 57th minute. The result followed draws for the A-League club against Tianjin Teda and Nagoya Grampus so far this campaign. Seongnam have also recorded three draws in a tight pool.

Jazira stay perfect
Al Jazira remain top of Group A and still have a perfect record after winning their third game, 2-1 at Esteghlal. Jumaa Abdullah gave them a sixth-minute lead, only for Ferydoon Zandi to level midway through the second half. Jader Bari won it with 18 minutes left, though, leaving Al Jazira five points clear of their opponents in the table.

In the group's other game, Al Rayyan were 3-1 winners over Nasaf. They got the perfect start through Rodrigo Tabata after six minutes, with their visitors levelling through Ilhom Shamuradov on 58 minutes. But they responded to get their first win of the campaign with goals coming from Daniel Goma (68) and substitute Ahmed Alaaeldin (90).