Guillaume Dah Zadi grabbed a late winner for the Chinese champions to move them on to seven points from three games, three ahead of Adelaide United, who face Vietnamese side Binh Duong later on Wednesday.

The only goal of a contest dominated by the visitors came with four minutes remaining.

Du Zhenyu swung in a corner from the right which Choi Hyo-jin failed to clear and Dah Zadi headed home from just inside the six-yard box.

Despite Dah Zadi's contribution, Changchun's real hero was goalkeeper Zong Lei, who made a number of crucial saves to deny Pohang's Brazilian forwards Aldo and Denilson.

His first intervention came approaching the half hour mark when, following a comical collision between two home defenders, he kept out Aldo's effort and blocked Hwang Ji-soo's follow-up before stretching to save a rising shot from just outside the box.

Zong was called into action again just before half-time, pushing out a header by Denilson before going down low to deny the Brazilian again when he attempted a spectacular scissors-kick from the resulting corner.

Changchun improved after half-time and could have taken the lead in the 50th minute when Du burst on to Dah Zadi's flick but could only fire his shot straight at visiting keeper Shin Hwa-yong.

Shin came to the fore again a minute later to deny Wang Dong.

Pohang came on strong in the final 10 minutes, Aldo stabbing a shot wide and Zong denying Choi Hyo-jin and Denilson.

But the visitors could not maintain their momentum and Dah Zadi had the final say.