Urawa Red Diamonds narrow Omiya's lead

Urawa Red Diamonds defeated Ventforet Kofu 1-0 to close the gap to three points as J.League leaders Omiya Ardija were held to a 1-1 draw by Sagan Tosu on Saturday. Urawa had the upper hand throughout and Tsukasa Umesaki sent a cross from the left for Daisuke Nasu's headed goal in the 83rd minute for the victory. Omiya took an early lead through Takuya Aoki, but Kei Ikeda equalised in the 83rd minute. Omiya kept the lead in the standings on 33 points, ahead of Urawa on 30 points, Yokohama Marinos on 28 points, and Sanfrecce Hiroshima on 27 points. Yokohama drew with Kashiwa Reysol 1-1, while Korean defender Park Hyung-Jin scored a decider in injury time direct from a free kick to give Hiroshima a 1-0 win over FC Tokyo. In the day's other games, Yoshizumi Ogawa scored a brace to lead Nagoya Grampus to a 2-1 win over Shimizu S-Pulse, while former Japan international Yoshito Okubo also scored twice to lead Kawasaki Frontal to a 4-2 win over Kashima Antlers. Hideya Okamoto scored a decider four minutes into injury time to give Albirex Niigata a 3-2 win over Kashiwa Reysol. The other games were all stalemates, Vegalta Sendai and Shonan Bellmare finished 0-0, Yokohama Marinos and Oita Trinita drew 1-1, while Jubilo Iwata and Cerezo Osaka ended 2-2. Source: fifa.com