Red-hot Takashi Usami and Yoshito Okubo shone in key wins for their clubs this weekend, with the chasing pack behind J.League leaders Urawa Reds tightening up.
Gamba Osaka kicked off the matchday 4 action on Friday needing a home win against Nagoya Grampus to ensure they closed the gap at the top of the table.
And the champions got it in an emphatic 3-1 result thanks to golden boy Usami, who both debuted and scored for Japan during the last few days, netting a brace.
The 22-year-old’s fortunate opener and then sharp second after a good team move puts him atop the league scoring charts, and Gamba temporarily top of the table.
Kawasaki Frontale joined the treble winners level on seven points later on Saturday thanks to 2014 J.League top scorer Yoshito Okubo’s double past Albirex Niigata in a 4-1 win.
Kenyu Sugimoto and Renato had put Frontale into a two-goal lead before the lethal Okubo made his mark on a comprehensive win in the final 20 minutes.
There was already plenty of drama earlier on Saturday, after Hirofumi Watanabe’s 95th-minute winner helped Vegalta Sendai defeat Shimizu S-Pulse 2-1, propelling them all the way up to 2nd in J.League.
Later, Sanfrecce Hiroshima were shocked 0-1 when Vissel Kobe’s Keijiro Ogawa turned home three minutes into stoppage time, putting a temporary halt to the hosts’ climb this year.
Kashiwa Reysol also resumed after the recent break with defeat at home, going down 2-1 after Leandro’s opener was cancelled by Sho Ito and Takumi Shimohira in the second half.
Their slip means they are joined by Kashima Antlers on four points this term; the latter finally earning their first win of the season by beating Sagan Tosu 3-1 on Friday.
The game initially appeared to be going wrong when Hiroyuki Taniguchi gave Sagan a 7th-minute lead in the big clash of the weekend.
It took struggling Antlers an hour to rally via Mu Kanazaki’s strike, before Gaku Shibasaki and Yasushi Endo’s quickfire double ensured they have been granted a reprieve from their slump.
Urawa Reds’ victory over Matsumoto Yamaga was all one-way traffic on the other hand, despite it taking Ryota Moriwaki’s blockbuster in the 85th minute to hand the early favourites a slender 1-0 scoreline and their three-point lead at the top back.
Shonan Bellmare’s fairytale start continued when they defeated Montedio Yamagata 2-1 in Saturday's other action, while FC Tokyo were able to beat Ventforet Kofu 1-0.
