Shandong Luneng Taishan FC snapped their two-game winless slide with a 2-1 win over Beijing Guoan FC at the Workers' Stadium on Sunday.

Italian striker Graziano Pellè and Argentine midfielder Walter Montillo scored one goal apiece to lead Shandong Luneng past the hard-fighting Imperial Guards.

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Pellè broke the deadlock after he slotted in a cross from Brazilian midfielder Jucilei at the 12th minute.

Guoan's Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz, who had scored at least a goal for his team in four of their last five matches, should have found the equalizer in the 26th minute. However, he missed the penalty kick after the referee awarded his team a penalty and gave Shandong's Li Songyi a yellow card.

Li was booked with another yellow card nine minutes later, sending him off the pitch and leaving Shandong one-man down with significant time left in the game.

The one-point lead was eventually erased by Beijing winger Yu Dabao, who pulled off a brilliant individual move on Shandong goalkeeper Wang Dalei with two minutes remaining before the halftime break.

However, Montillo successfully converted a penalty kick in the 76th minute after a yellow card was given to Guoan defender Zhao Hejing.

Shandong Luneng has been struggling in the past few rounds of the season as they have drifted in the bottom half of the league table. With three wins in their last five matches, Taishan Dui is at the 12th place in the league table at the moment with 30 points in 26 games.

The team is tied on points with the 13th-place team Tianjin Teda but has a greater goal differential of -1 compared to the Tigers' -8.

Meanwhile, Beijing Guoan has arisen from the bottom of the standings after going unbeaten in four of their last five matches. They are now at the seventh place in the league table, tied on points with Hebei China Fortune and Guangzhou R&F.

TagsChina Football, Chinese Super League, Chinese Super League news, Shandong Luneng Taishan FC, beijing guoan fc