TOKYO: Urawa Reds held on to top spot in the J-League on Saturday after Ryota Moriwaki's wonder strike gave them a 1-0 win over Matsumoto Yamaga.
The defender stepped inside to smash home a long-range drive five minutes from time to give unbeaten Urawa a third win in four games this season.
"Miracles do happen," joked Moriwaki after sparing his side's blushes against promoted Matsumoto, who can only dream of matching the resources of Japan's best-supported club. "It's unbelievable. I think it happens about once a year."
Urawa, runners-up to treble winners Gamba Osaka in last year's J-League title race, improved to 10 points, two more than Vegalta Sendai and FC Tokyo.
Gamba beat Nagoya Grampus 3-1 on Friday helped by a double from striker Takashi Usami, continuing where he left off after scoring his first goal for Japan in last Tuesday's 5-1 thrashing of Uzbekistan.
Sendai left it late to beat Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1 at home, and FC Tokyo scraped past Ventforet Kofu 1-0, although their joy was tempered after Japan striker Yoshinori Muto went off with back and neck trouble early in the second half.
Elsewhere, former Japan striker Yoshito Okubo scored twice as Kawasaki Frontale thrashed Albirex Niigata 4-1 at home to go fourth, while local rivals Yokohama F-Marinos produced a 2-1 win at Kashiwa Reysol.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima, meanwhile, went down 1-0 at Vissel Kobe as they continue to struggle to hit the heights of their back-to-back title seasons in 2012 and 2013.
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