Substitute Takenori Hayashi struck with four minutes left on the clock to send Oita Trinita back to the J. League first division with a 1-0 win over JEF United Chiba in the promotion playoffs final on Friday.
Trinita, who were relegated from the top flight along with JEF in 2009, needed to win at National Stadium to clinch promotion, with the rules for the new four-team playoff system favoring the team with the higher league position in the event of a draw.
But with only four minutes separating JEF — who finished fifth in the final J2 table to Oita's sixth — from a place in the first division, former Chiba striker Hayashi lifted a Yasuhito Morishima through ball over goalkeeper Masahiro Okamoto to send Trinita up instead.