By Michael Church
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Wuhan Three Towns restored their three point lead at the top of the Chinese Super League standings on Tuesday as Pedro Morilla’s side dished out a 4-0 thrashing to Dalian Pro.
Brazilian trio Marcao, Davidson and Ademilson were all on target for last year’s China League One winners as they stayed clear of defending champions Shandong Taishan.
Shandong had pulled level on 50 points with Wuhan as a result of their 3-0 win over former champions Guangzhou FC on Monday evening.
Liu Yang’s header had given Shandong the lead in the 11th minute before a brace from Brazilian forward Cryzan made the points safe for Hao Wei’s side.
Wuhan had few problems against Dalian 24 hours later, however, with Marcao scoring twice in three first-half minutes to put the league leaders in control.
The Brazilian forward’s opener came in the 28th minute when he headed in Davidson’s cross from the left and he doubled the lead when he pounced to score with his head after Zhang Chong had saved Nicolae Stanciu’s shot from outside the area.
Davidson curled his strike into the top corner only seconds into the second half and Ademilson put the result beyond any doubt when he side-footed home Davidson’s cut-back six minutes from time.
The win moves Wuhan onto 53 points from 21 games, three ahead of Shandong with Shanghai Shenhua a further nine points adrift in third after their 1-1 draw with struggling Guangzhou City.
Shanghai Port handed Meizhou Hakka a 7-0 thumping to move to within one point of their cross-city rivals in fourth, with former Espanyol striker Wu Lei scoring a hat trick.
Henan Longmen move into fifth after their 3-0 win over Cangzhou Mighty Lions, going ahead of Zhejiang FC following their 1-1 draw with Chengdu Rongcheng.
Zhang Yuning scored the only goal in Beijing Guoan’s 1-0 win over Changchun Yatai as the capital side climb into seventh place while Tianjin Tigers defeated Wuhan Yangtze 3-1 and Shenzhen FC handed last-placed Hebei FC a 2-1 loss.
(Reporting by Michael Church in Hong Kong; Editing by Mike Harrison)
