Once again, the three Super League sides disappointed with just Whowin managing to pick up a point this week. The Dalian sides pulled further apart from each other in League One after Yifang moved up to second and Transcendence dropped to second from bottom.
Beijing Guoan 0-0 Liaoning Whowin
Another underwhelming performance from Whowin saw them escape this game with a lucky point after Guoan failed to take their chances.
The first 20 minutes provided not much of note, Yilmaz’s early chance and some trickery from Song Boxuan being the only highlights. The first real chance of the game fell to Guoan when Yilmaz got onto the end of a ball in the box but put his effort over the bar from just seven yards out. Augusto came close from a free kick moments later with Guoan starting to look on top of the game. Liaoning looked to score but didn’t really come close with Toure’s skewed effort and Kim Tae-Yan shooting straight at Yang Zhi. Yilmaz came close again when he took advantage of Yang Shanping’s weak efforts to hold him off but his effort was straight at the feet of Shi Xiaotian. The first half ended with Guoan looking the more likely to score.
The second half began in much the same fashion with Yilmaz and Zhang Xizhe both having early chances to open the scoring. The opener might have come from an own goal when Yang Shanping deflected Zhao Hejing’s cross goalwards, but it sailed just wide of the right post. Zhang Zhiming came close five minutes from time and will be disappointed he couldn’t finish after wasting a great chance to give the home side the winning goal.
Whowin will count themselves lucky to have escaped this match with a point. Although Guoan didn’t look totally dominant they certainly did enough to warrant leaving the stadium with all three points. Their inability to finish basically handed a point to an underwhelming Liaoning. Next up for Whowin is a home game against big-spending newcomers Hebei CFFC.
Changchun Yatai 1-3 Shanghai SIPG
Changchun extended their winless start to six games after they succumbed to a 1-3 home defeat against SIPG.
Things didn’t get off to a great start for the Jilin side when SIPG had the ball in the net after just five minutes. Wu Lei broke away on the right after skipping over skipping over Matic’s attempted 
tackle and whipped in a cross that Elkeson managed to convert. Sun Jie might have levelled the score a few minutes later had his header not gone just north of the crossbar. They found the equalizer they were pushing for though when Yan Feng scored in the 23rd minute. After a ball came in from deep, Moreno held up the ball well on the edge of the area and managed to knock it down for Feng. After a nice move with Du Zhenyu, Yan Feng slipped through the SIPG defense to get onto the end of the through ball and put it past Yan Junling. Moments later Ozegovic got a header in but could only direct it straight in the hands of the keeper. A speculative effort from Du Zhenyu went well wide of the left post but it was clear that Yatai were on top and pushing for a goal to put them in front. SIPG chances were few and far between in the first half, however Wu Lei almost grabbed his team’s second just before the break but put his effort just wide.
The second half’s first chance fell to Yatai after Du Zhenyu’s free kick on the left. The ball found Moreno who powered in a great a header only to see it saved brilliantly by Yan Junling to keep the score level. It was only minutes later that those missed chances would seem even more of a waste when Conca’s great finish put the ball past Wu Yake and gave his side the lead. SIPG kept their momentum and almost came close to scoring a third when Yatai’s sloppy back line played Gyan onside but he could only run directly into the keeper. He made up for it though when he took advantage of Sun Jie’s misjudged header and poked the ball under Wu Yake to grab his side’s third goal and seal the three points.
Another disappointing result for Yatai and the pressure is certainly building on Stojanovic after his side extended their winless start to six games. They run the risk of having their worst start to a season since 2013 when they went eleven games without a win. It’s hard to see them getting much from their next game either, an away visit to Jiangsu Suning.
Yanbian Fude 1-2 Henan Jianye
Yanbian fell to a 1-2 home defeat against Henan to make it three games without a win for the league newcomers.
The game’s first goal came after just 12 minutes when Fude goalkeeper Chi Wenyi flapped at a corner, allowing the ball to fall to McGowan who headed back in for Gomes to poke in from just a couple of yards out. Chances were few and far between after the opener and the first half fizzled out with a few half-chances punctuating the mediocrity on display.
Five minutes after the break Yanbian actually had the ball in the back of the net after Wang
Guoming’s attempted clearance went straight into Ha Tae-goon and bounced into the empty net. 
The goal was disallowed though after the referee correctly spotted that the ball had rebounded off of the striker’s arm. Fude offered nothing much after that and were punished when Henan grabbed their second goal on the break, Patino timed his run well and finished well to double his side’s advantage. Yanbian were not deterred and hit back ten minutes later with a brilliant goal. Ha Tae-goon got onto the end of a long ball and held it up well before rolling across the edge of the box where Cui Ren was left with plenty of space to run on and score with an exquisitely well-hit shot. His wonderful effort wasn’t enough though as the score remained at 1-2 when the final whistle was blown.
Yanbian now linger at the bottom of the table, level on points with Guangzhou R&F. While it’s still early in the season it’s a shame to see some of the early swagger we saw being replaced by unconfident performances. It would be wise to get it back fairly quickly as they face third placed Shanghai SIPG away next week.
League One
Dalian Yifang brought home another three points after beating Shenzhen 0-1 in the southern city. Mushekwi grabbed his second goal of the season to give the visitors the win. Another good win for Yifang and it sees them climb to second place in the table, just one point behind league leaders Quanjian. They host Qingdao Jonoon next week.
Dalian Transcendence fell to a 1-2 home defeat against Guizhou Hengfeng to extend their winless run to five games. Goals from Mazola and Yves Ekwalla Herman gave Guizhou the three points while Jaílton Paraíba managed to grab a consolation goal for the home side. They now sit second from bottom in the league and will look to pull away from the relegation spots when they take on fellow newcomers Meizhou Kejia next week.
