Hideaki Kitajima scored two late second half goals on Saturday to rally Kashiwa Reysol to a 3-1 win over Sanfrecce Hiroshima and maintain its lead in the J-League standings.
Tadanari Lee gave Hiroshima a 1-0 lead in the 57th minute but Wagner equalized ten minutes later with a left-footed blast from the top of the area.
Kitajima gave Kashiwa the lead with a header in the 81st minute and added another with four minutes remaining to seal the victory.
Kashiwa improved to 62 points, two ahead of Gamba Osaka, which coasted to a 5-0 thrashing of Montedio Yamagata. Elsewhere, defending champion Nagoya Grampus kept its title hopes alive with a 3-2 win over Omiya Ardija to improve to 59 points.
Takahiro Futagawa and Lee Keun-ho scored first half goals for Gamba.
Futagawa gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute when he converted a pass from Kim Seung-yong and Lee doubled the lead five minutes later with a left-footed shot from six meters.
Hiroki Fujuhara widened the lead to 3-0 with long-range shot in the 59th minute before Rafael and Shota Kawanishi added late goals to complete the rout.
Elsewhere, Yokohama F Marinos lost ground in the title chase after a 2-1 loss to Urawa Reds left the team 10 points behind Kashiwa. Kawasaki Frontale and Vegalta Sendai played a goalless draw.
