Drogba helps Shenhua claim point

Former Chelsea striker Drogba, who was presented by Shenhua last weekend after agreeing a two-and-a-half year contract with the club, came off the bench for the second half to help his new side battle back from a goal down to secure a point.

Host Guangzhou had taken a 22nd-minute lead through a Moises own goal but 12th-placed Shenhua drew level in the 68th minute through Cao Yunding, with Drogba playing a key role in the equaliser.

The Cote d'Ivoire international had already tested the Guangzhou goalkeeper twice - one with a stinging 35-yard free-kick - before his throughball set up Cao to make it 1-1.

Elsewhere, Jiangsu Shuntian moved back to within four points of league leader Guangzhou Evergrande with a 3-2 home victory over Tianjin Taida.

All five goals were scored in the first half, with Jiangsu netting through Aleksandar Jevtic (10), Ji Xiang (23) and leading scorer Cristian Danalache (42), while Tianjin responded with an own goal from Lu Bofei (21) and a Vladimir Jovancic strike (26).

The victory sees Jiangsu remain within touching distance of Evergrande, which won the previous day, and five clear of third-placed Guizhou Renhe, which fought back from an early deficit to beat Shanxi Zhongxin 3-1.

Johnny had given visiting Shanxi a fifth-minute lead but Guizhou hit back with second-half goals from Hao Yang (51), Chen Jie (83) and Zlatan Muslimovic (86).

In this weekend's other games, Dalian Shide and Changchun Yatai claimed 2-1 wins over Qingdao Zhongneng and Liaoning, respectively.

James Chamanga struck a 77th-minute winner for Dalian after Qingdao's Bruno Meneghel had cancelled out a 35th-minute opener from Yan Xiangchuang, while Changchun Yatai scored twice in the final 18 minutes through Dong Wang (72) and Liu Weidong (86) to claim the points after Liaoning had taken a 65th-minute lead through Yu Hanchao.