Kawasaki Frontale sent the J. League championship title race down to the wire with a gutsy 1-0 win away to newly crowned Asian club champions Urawa Reds on Wednesday night.
Kawasaki needed all three points to stay in with a chance of catching leaders Kashima Antlers, and captain and leading scorer Yu Kobayashi delivered what proved to be the winner in the 14th minute at Saitama Stadium.
"We managed to score but after that had periods where our backs were against the wall. It was a really difficult game so I am glad (we could hold on)," said Kobayashi.