Yoshiaki Ota struck twice to help Jubilo Iwata record its first home win of the season in the J. League with a 3-0 defeat of lowly Sanfrecce Hiroshima on Sunday.
Yoshiaki Ota (left) of Jubilo Iwata celebrates with teammate Shinji Murai after scoring during Sunday's game against Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
In the day's only other fixture, Kawasaki Frontale also registered a comfortable win as three goals in 16 second-half minutes saw it brush aside visiting Omiya Ardija 3-1.
Iwata dominated proceedings at Yamaha Stadium and took less than 30 seconds to go in front when Hideto Suzuki's cross from the right sailed over Takashi Shimoda and crept inside the far post.
Ota grabbed his first of the afternoon in the 20th minute when he took advantage of slack defending to smash past Shimoda from the edge of the box.
The 22-year-old midfielder capped the scoring in the dying stages, collecting a through ball from substitute Hiroshi Nanami to slot into the right-hand corner from close range.
"We haven't been able to put together any kind of run and haven't been playing particularly well either so it was nice that we got three goals and won today," said Ota.
"We have got to try and get on a role and keep winning now and hopefully this win has given us a platform to build on," he added.
Victory lifted Iwata into ninth in the table with 11 points while Sanfrecce remained rooted to the foot of the table with just three points from a possible 24.
At Todoroki Stadium, Kawasaki climbed into third place thanks to goals from Yoshinobu Minowa, Juninho and substitute Taku Harada.
Frontale trails league leader Urawa Reds by three points while Omiya's third league defeat in four matches saw it drop into 12th place in the 18-team standings.
