J. League leaders Vegalta Sendai preserved their unbeaten start to the season and took the defending champions' scalp in the process with a 3-2 win over Kashiwa Reysol on Saturday.
Vegalta twice took the lead only to be pegged back at Hitachi Stadium, with goals from Naoki Sugai and Kunimitsu Sekiguchi canceled out both times by reigning league MVP Leandro Domingues.
But there was no way back when Shingo Akamine struck the winner in the 78th minute, and a late red card for Leandro compounded the misery for a Kashiwa side that has now lost half of its opening six matches.