Following Kashima's 4-1 defeat to Nagoya Grampus yesterday, Shimizu were eager to exert further pressure by beating Kobe.

But the hosts faced stern resistance from the visitors, who defended manfully.

Kobe also had chances of their own. Defender Kunie Kitamoto headed Seiji Koga's corner wide in the 17th minute before Japan forward Yoshito Okubo unleashed a fine first-time effort from Koga's cross in the 28th minute, but Shimizu goalkeeper Kaito Yamamoto reacted well.

The situation changed 10 minutes after the break, though, when South Korea international Kim Nam-Il collected his second booking of the game and was sent off.

Shimizu came close to opening the scoring with attempts from Takuya Honda and Arata Kodama and finally broke the deadlock with seven minutes to go.

Ichikawa picked up the ball on the edge of the box after a corner was only half-cleared and fired into the back of the net.

"We won the game with our playing style," said Shimizu manager Kenta Hasegawa.

"Kobe may be thinking they were unlucky because of the sending-off but our players did well. Now, we'd like to focus on every single game without paying attention to the others," he added.

In Saitama, Yokohama F. Marinos edged out Urawa Reds 2-1 to record their second successive win.

Marinos went ahead with just four minutes gone through Yuji Nakazawa but the lead was cancelled out by Edmilson in the 16th minute.

However, Marinos forward Kazuma Watanabe struck the winner shortly before the break.