The 30-year-old Socceroo hopeful started the game on the bench, with his brother Ryan and Brazilian striker Otto preferred up front, but the ex-Jets man came off the pine to inspire Beijing to victory.

Ryan Griffiths had Guoan's best chance of the first-half when his ambitious left-footed long-range effort cannoned off the crossbar.

But brother Joel went one better ten minutes after coming off the bench as a half-time sub, when he beat the offside trap to head in Xu Yunlong's cross from close-range.

Wang Xiaolong smashed in a fierce left-footed effort on 82 minutes to seal the victory the Chinese champions on the opening day of the Super League season.

Elsewhere, Chris Coyne made his debut for Liaoning Whowin, playing a full game as the newly promoted club impressively held Changchun Yatai to a 0-0 draw on the road.

In Japan's J.League, Eddy Bosnar received a yellow card in his full game for Shimizu S-Pulse in a 0-0 draw at Kawasaki Frontale.

Elsewhere, Matt Spiranovic was an unused substitute again as Urawa Reds won 3-2 at Cerezo Osaka.