Ryo Germain scored a stoppage-time equalizer as bottom side Jubilo Iwata secured a vital point with a 1-1 draw away to neighbors Shimizu S-Pulse in the J-League first division on Saturday.
The Shizuoka derby stalemate leaves Iwata on 29 points, five points from safety with two games to play, while Shimizu are 16th in the 18-team J1 on 33 points.
The bottom two sides will be relegated to J2, while the team finishing 16th will contest a promotion-relegation playoff with a team from the second tier.
Shimizu had been testing the Iwata goal before Thiago Santana scored the 34th-minute opener. Yoshinori Suzuki reacted to a flicked corner and provided the decisive pass for the Brazilian, who could not miss from a meter out.
Iwata, who stunned runaway league leaders Yokohama F Marinos with a 1-0 win in their last match on Oct. 12, remained quiet until the closing stages but again bagged a late goal in a frantic finale.
Ko Matsubara drew three defenders before releasing fellow substitute Yosuke Furukawa down the left. Rookie Furukawa, the scorer of the winner against Marinos, pulled the ball back for Germain, who smashed home a fine volley two minutes into added time.
There could have been more drama as Santana's half-volley from the edge of the box grazed the bar straight away at the other end before Furukawa skied the last chance of the match from meters out for Jubilo.
"We needed three points more than they do...we wanted to win whatever the cost," Germain said. "We hope to win the next two games, keep going as long as there's a possibility."
