Gotoku Sakai’s second half winner separated the two sides with Vissel earning their first win to move onto four points while Shandong are one adrift.

Vissel went looking for an early advantage and their high-octane start was rewarded in the 14th minute when Takahiro Ohgihara’s free-kick was nodded home by Taisei Miyashiro past Wang Dalei.

Wang was kept busy as Vissel peppered Shandong’s goal with attempts, stretching his left hand to push away Tetsushi Yamakawa’s low shot before flying to his right to palm away Daiju Sasaki’s header from the resulting corner.

Against the run of play, Shandong found themselves on level terms from a corner kick in the 28th minute that was aimed to the far post with Liao Lisheng heading back across Vissel’s goal for Cryzan to nod home from close range.

The goal seemed to knock the wind out of Vissel as Shandong ended the first half on a more equal footing, even though Wang still needed to be alert to stop a Yuya Osako header.

Vissel used the interval to recover their composure and reassert their control, pushing themselves back in front in the 51st minute when Sakai’s shot took a deflection off Liu Yang and whizzed past Wang.

The Japanese side should have added to their advantage when Yoshinori Muto was played in six minutes just after the hour mark but the former Newcastle United forward sliced his effort high over the bar.

As Shandong pushed forward in search of the equaliser, they left their defence vulnerable to quick counter attacks and Vissel almost capitalised, Rikuto Hirose’s shot striking the bar but it didn’t matter in the end as the Japanese side took the points.

Up next for Vissel is an away match to Ulsan HD FC of Korea Republic on October 23 while Shandong will host Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos a day earlier.