An own goal lifted capital city team Beijing Guoan FC to a 1-0 win over reeling contenders Hebei China Fortune FC in a 2016 Chinese Super League season encounter at the Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium last Saturday.

It was quite a heartbreaking loss for the Samba Kings, who have now dropped their fourth straight fixture in the Chinese first division domestic competitions, as they lost a third consecutive home game.

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Left back Ding Haifeng tumbled from trying to block Beijing striker Yu Dabao's header during the opening minutes. He was able to hit it, but knocked the ball into his own net right at the second minute of the contest to give the visitors a one-point lead, Xinhuanet reported.

The game went scoreless from then on as the Imperial Guards backed off and protected their net for the whole 90 minutes plus of playing time. After the final whistle sounded, Beijing came away with their seventh unbeaten match in their last eight games since head coach Xie Feng took over from sacked manager Alberto Zaccheroni, via Soccerway.

The 63-year-old Zaccheroni, who was a former AC Milan Serie A champion coach, was relieved of his duty as Guoan's boss two months ago after Beijing's 0-2 loss to Hebei during their first meeting this season.

With the win, the capital city team is now in the middle of the 16-team China top flight table, at the eighth spot, a comfortable nine points above the bottom two relegation area but is still six points behind the third and last AFC Champions League qualifying berth presently held by third-running team Shanghai SIPG with 13 games left in their 2016 campaign.

Coach Xie's boys still has a chance to qualify in next season's Champions League if they can pull off a significant winning streak in the ongoing second half of the season.

Meanwhile, Hebei is still at fourth place in the overall standings despite their current losing slide as other top squads Jiangsu Suning and Shanghai SIPG also lost their round 18 matches.

Head coach Li Tie's side, who finished second last season in the China League One competitions to get promoted in the CSL this term, is 15 points behind league leaders Guangzhou Evergrande and tied on points with SIPG but has a much inferior goal difference than the Red Eagles.

TagsChina Football, Chinese Super League, Chinese Super League 2016, Chinese Super League news, beijing guoan fc, Hebei China Fortune FC