Beaten 6-1 at home by Beijing Guoan on Wednesday when the league resumed after a six-week mid-season break, Shandong started the game determined to make amends and exerted much of the pressure on the home side in a scoreless opening half.

But 13 minutes after the restart, youngster Yang Yu out-raced Shandong skipper Shu Chang to fire in a shot that was palmed out by China international goalkeeper Li Leilei to an unmarked Wang Xinxin, who tapped the ball home to put Liaoning ahead.

Liaoning goalkeeper Zhang Lu was in superb form, denying Li Jinyu with a superb reflex save in the 69th minute and also turning aside a powerful close-range shot by Serbian playmaker Aleksandar Zivkovic with six minute remaining.

Yang Yu beat two Shandong defenders to fire home Liaoning's second goal two minutes from time but Li Jinyu grabbed a late consolation goal, clipping in Wang Xiaolong's cross from the left in the dying minutes.

"Our loose defending cost us three points," said Shandong coach Ljubisa Tumbakovic. "But I will still keep my key defenders in the starting line-up as I can't just replace them immediately after their mistakes."

Shandong's second straight defeat saw them fall six points behind leaders Changchun Yatai, who moved up to 32 points after their 2-1 home win over Xiamen Lanshi.

In the Saturday's remaining game, third-placed Tianjin Teda defeated Wuhan Huanghelou 2-0 to draw level on points with Shandong.