KAWASAKI —

Renatinho provided J-League leaders Kawasaki Frontale with the perfect tonic for their Nabisco Cup hangover with a hat-trick in a thrilling 3-2 win over JEF United Chiba on Sunday.
   
Chiba took a shock lead through Kohei Kudo’s first-half strike but Renatinho leveled from the penalty spot before the Brazilian striker’s deflected second put the home side in front with 19 minutes left.
   
Takumi Wada scrambled home two minutes from time to give the visitors a flicker of hope but Renatinho completed his hat-trick with a dramatic injury-time winner to condemn Chiba to relegation to the second division.
   
The result kept Kawasaki (58) a point clear of reigning champions Kashima Antlers, 2-0 winners over Montedio Yamagata, with three games of the season left to play.
   
Gamba Osaka (54) also remained in contention for the title after a Pedro Junior double helped lift the former Asian club champions to a 4-1 win over Kyoto Sanga but Shimizu S-Pulse (50) suffered a stunning 5-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Kashiwa Reysol.
   
Reysol moved to within six points of safety after Omiya Ardija were sunk by a late Tomoaki Makino goal in a 1-0 defeat at home to Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Elsewhere, FC Tokyo, 2-0 winners over Frontale in Tuesday’s Nabisco Cup final, were brought back to earth with a 1-0 defeat at home to Urawa Reds, Edmilson clinching victory for the Reds, who had Genki Haraguchi sent off after 54 minutes.
   
Igor Burzanovic gave Nagoya Grampus a 1-0 win over 10-man Vissel Kobe while Hideo Oshima scored both goals as Albirex Niigata won 2-0 at Jubilo Iwata.
   
Already relegated Oita Trinita pulled off a surprise 2-1 win away to Yokohama F Marinos thanks to goals from Fernandinho and Hiroshi Kiyotake.

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  Surge1979 at 11:14 AM JST - 9th November

  Congratulations, Chiba. 44 years of top flight football thrown down the drain.

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