Defending champions Urawa Red Diamonds posted their first win in eight games, defeating FC Tokyo 2-0 in the J-League on Sunday.

Urawa took an early lead when Tatsuya Tanaka fired home the rebound from a blocked shot by Brazilian striker Washington in the third minute of play. Then Tokyo suffered an own goal when Jo Kanazawa failed to clear the ball in the 65th minute. They were never able to break through the tight Urawa defenders.

"I really want to praise my players. They had a wonderful performance today. Although FC Tokyo played well too, my players self-controlled very well and showed good discipline," said Urawa's German coach Holger Osieck.

"Especially Tatsuya Tanaka played very well after a long injury lay-off. He scored a goal as well. I hope he can recover favourably without any injury anymore and play as he did in the past," he added.

Meanwhile, Tokyo coach Hiromi Hara said his side tried to play aggressively from the outset, as they thought Urawa might be tired, coming off recent play in the AFC Champions League. "But when we lost an own goal, my players appeared defeated," said Hara.

Urawa moved on to 27 points, seven short of front-runners Gamba Osaka. They were followed by Kawasaki Frontale, Kashima Antlers and Jubilo Iwata on 24 points, and Kashiwa Reysol and Albirex Niigata on 23 points.