In the first half Omiya frustrated the north Osaka club with solid defending, which has been a key to the hosts' eight game unbeaten run.

But Akihiro Ienaga celebrated his inclusion in Ivica Osim's 23-man AFC Asian Cup squad as the Japan Under-22 midfielder slotted home Ryuji Bando's pass four minutes after the hour mark to hand Gamba the lead.

Gamba doubled the advantage with 10 minutes remaining as Bando, who was also named in the defending champions' squad for July's tournament, found unmarked international team-mate Yasuhito Endo.

Endo had time and space to pick out Takahiro Futagawa, who made no mistake with a well struck volley.

Brazilian forward Magno Alves converted a Futagawa pass in the last minute to seal the victory and help Gamba extend their unbeaten run to 12 games.

"The game went as we planned," said Gamba coach Akira Nishino. "I knew it would be hard to break through Omiya in the first half. We just had to play patiently and our players did that well."

In Shizuoka, Urawa Reds midfielder Shinji Ono struck a brace as the J.League champions claimed a 2-0 victory over 10-man Jubilo Iwata to claim a fourth straight win and remain five points behind Gamba with a game in hand.

Former Feyenoord midfielder Ono curled home a first minute free-kick and reacted well to Tatsuya Tanaka's rebound to skilfully lob the ball into the empty goal after 29 minutes.

Jubilo attempted to rally but defender Makoto Tanaka was given a straight red card for violent conduct two minutes later.

"Our players did what I've told them to do," said Urawa manager Holger Osieck. "We took the initiative in midfield and won the second balls. We also had wonderful goals from Ono."

Elsewhere, Kawasaki Frontale's Brazilian forward Juninho made up for a missed penalty to strike a last-minute winner and secure a 2-1 victory over Vissel Kobe to end a six-game winless run.

In Niigata, Brazilian midfielder Marcio Richardes' 59th-minute strike secured a 2-1 victory for Albirex Niigata against Sanfrecce Hiroshima, while Shinji Okazaki scored twice as Shimizu S-Pulse claimed a 3-1 win over 10-man Kashiwa Reysol.

Norio Suzuki scored for the third consecutive game to fire FC Tokyo to a 2-1 comeback victory over Kashima Antlers, while Nagoya Grampus Eight were held to a 1-1 draw by Ventforet Kofu as Frode Johnsen's opener was cancelled out by Daisuke Sudo with 21 minutes remaining.

Finally, Yokohama F. Marinos downed Oita Trinita 3-0 courtesy of goals from Ryuji Kawai, Yuji Nakazawa and Koji Yamase, and Satoru Yamagishi's early goal handed JEF United Chiba a 1-0 win at Yokohama FC.

The J.League will resume on August 11 after the AFC Asian Cup.