Giannou scores while Jones keeps clean sheet

Apostolos Giannou was on target for Guangzhou R&F, while Brad Jones continued his purple patch between the sticks for Feyenoord.

Gael Kakuta of Hebei China Fortune and Apostolos Giannou of Guangzhou R&F compete for the ball in March 2016. Source: Visual China Group

Giannou’s driven shot 20 minutes from time sealed the points for R&F against a Henan Jianye side that left Ryan McGowan on the bench.

The win for the Blue Lions sees the side move up to sixth place on the Chinese Super League table – 21 points behind cross-town rivals Guangzhou Evergrande.

In Monday’s (AEST) Eredivisie action, Feyenoord maintained their five point lead at the top of the table with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Daniel De Silva’s Roda JC Kerkrade.

Jones was impenetrable between the sticks, backing up last week’s clean sheet against PSV Eindhoven with another one against a Roda side riddled with relegation worries. Da Silva, meanwhile did not get off the bench. 

FC Utrecht earned their first victory of the league season with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Sparta Rotterdam.

Australian duo Kenneth Dougall and Craig Goodwin were both second-half substitutes for Rotterdam, but could do little to influence proceedings.

Aziz Behich had Harun Tekin to thank during Bursaspor’s match against Kasimpasa, with the goalkeeper saving a penalty 15 minutes from time to make sure his side held on for the 1-0 win.

Bursaspor are now second in the Turkish Super Lig standings with four wins from their first give games of the season.

Awer Mabil came on in the 46th minute as his side, Esbjerg was hammered 3-0 by his parent club FC Nordsjaelland in the Danish Superliga.

Fellow Australian Brent McGrath was also a second-half substitute for Esbjerg but saw sights on goal come few and far between.

Matthew Spiranovic helped Hangzhou Greentown to just their 8th clean sheet of the season with a 3-0 victory against Trent Sainsbury’s Jiangsu Suning FC.

Despite featuring in a back five, Sainsbury could do little to prevent Hangzhou’s attack as Anselmo Ramon ran riot with two goals and an assist.

Meanwhile, honours were even in Sunday night’s (AEST) K League Classic action as Jeonnam Dragons held Suwon FC to a 0-0 draw.

Jeonnam’s Tomislav Mrcela was solid throughout the stalemate, as was Adrian Leijer for Suwon.

But while the point sees Jeonnam remain fifth and five points adrift of a final AFC Champions League qualification spot, Suwon’s hopes of survival hang by a thread as they sit bottom of the league with six games to play.