Thiago Santana sealed the result with a penalty in the 12th minute of additional time as Urawa Reds held on for a 4-2 win away to Albirex Niigata in the J-League first division on Saturday.
Santana brought up his brace and snuffed out a late Niigata fightback when he sent goalkeeper Ryosuke Kojima the wrong way with a spot kick straight down the middle.
The Brazilian striker had opened the scoring in the fourth minute at Denka Big Swan Stadium by beating the offside trap and finishing clinically.
He also set up Naoki Maeda's 69th-minute goal that gave the visitors a 3-0 buffer shortly after Samuel Gustafson had doubled the lead.
But defensive lapses by Per-Mathias Hoegmo's Urawa outfit allowed Niigata to battle their way back into the contest with late goals from Shusuke Ota and Motoki Nagakura. Their bid for a share of the points came to a halt, however, when defender Ryo Endo was penalized for bringing down Thailand midfielder Ekanit Panya.
"I'm glad I could contribute two goals for the team and I was also really happy to assist on Naoki's goal. He's always finding me, so it was good to return the favor," Santana said.
"I think we made things hard for ourselves by conceding twice after we went up 3-0, but I'm happy we were able to fight until the end."
