Anderson Lopes scored a goal in each half to help Yokohama F Marinos tighten its grip on first place with a dominant 4-1 victory over struggling Shonan Bellmare in the J. League top flight Sunday.
The defending champion logged its sixth straight win to move up to 42 points, four points clear of second-place Nagoya Grampus, while Lopes took his J1-best tally to 15 goals with his sixth brace of the season.
Last-place Shonan, meanwhile, extended its losing streak to four games and remains without a win in its past 13 outings.
After Ken Matsubara opened the scoring from long range, Lopes made it 2-0 in the 10th minute at Nissan Stadium with help from Yan Mateus, who intercepted a pass by Shonan keeper Song Bum-keun and found his fellow Brazilian forward inside the box.
The hosts went up 3-0 on the counter six minutes into the second half after Mateus once again picked out Lopes in front of goal, this time with a lofted ball that his compatriot nodded into the net.
Bellmare forward Shuto Machino, in his last game before joining Holstein Kiel in the German second tier, pulled one back from the penalty spot to make it 3-1 in the 75th minute.
Kevin Muscat's men bagged their fourth barely two minutes later, with substitute Asahi Uenaka cleaning up for his maiden J1 goal after Song made an initial save from a counterattack.
Despite the one-sided win, the Australian manager said he wanted more clinical finishing from Marinos, who took 22 shots, 13 of them on target.
"We were really wasteful in possession and chances," Muscat said. "We really need to improve on this situation."