Yokohama F. Marinos got the rub of the green and defeated Shimizu S-Pulse 2-0 to post their first win in Group B in the Nabisco Cup on Saturday.

Yokohama was second best in all departments until an own goal from Shimizu defender Yasuhiro Hiraoka turned the tide and gifted it a 59th-minute lead.

S-Pulse never recovered from that blow and Fabio smashed home the second 10 minutes later to complete victory in what Marinos’ coach Erick Mombaerts admitted was a game of two halves.

“We didn’t turn up until the second half. In the first period we weren’t there mentally, made glaring mistakes and couldn’t play our brand of soccer,” said the Frenchman.

“But we improved and picked up the pace after the break. Even before the own goal I think we were getting into our opponents’ box, making chances and attacking much better.”

Mombaerts fielded a virtually full-strength squad, keeping faith with the same starting 11 that beat Sagan Tosu 1-0 last weekend to pick up its first three points of the J. League campaign.

Marinos created little going forward though, and it was S-Pulse, making six changes to the side that lost 1-0 at home against Matsumoto Yamaga last Sunday, that had the lion’s share of chances in the first half in perfect conditions at Mitsuzawa Stadium.

Genki Omae squandered a golden opportunity to put the visitors in front on the half-hour mark, blazing over the bar in acres of space, and Australian striker Mitchell Duke’s glancing header moments later was just a cigarette paper past the post.

Yokohama goalkeeper Tetsuya Enomoto, who played a pivotal role in the win against Tosu with a world-class save in the closing stages, then did well to keep out a shot from Ryohei Shirasaki.

S-Pulse continued to force the pace but Marinos fortuitously took the lead against the run of play.

Takumi Shimohira took a pass from Ademilson and sent the ball into the danger zone, but Hiraoka made a hash of his attempt to clear and scuffed the ball into his own net.

The goal was indeed harsh on S-Pulse, and their hopes of finding a way back into the game faded when Fabio drilled in a loose ball following a Shingo Hyodo corner to make it 2-0.

Kempei Usui prevented further damage by keeping out an audacious long-range effort from substitute Sho Ito, but the S-Pulse goalkeeper compounded a miserable afternoon for his team when he was dismissed for a rush-of-blood-to-the-head challenge on Ademilson with five minutes left.

“I think for the majority of the first half and part of the second half we dominated the game and didn’t give them many chances,” said Duke.

“But it’s a game of scoring goals and we should have put them away before we unfortunately scored our own goal. The game turned after that I think.”

“They got a bit of momentum and they scored again off the corner and then you could see our luck with our keeper getting a red card. It was just one of those games of creating many chances, not scoring and getting punished.”

lso in Group B, Yoshizumi Ogawa scored what proved to be the winner as Nagoya Grampus held on to beat Vegalta Sendai 3-2 to take top spot, while Kazuma Watanabe scored twice to give Vissel Kobe a 3-1 win at home to Montedio Yamagata. In Group A, Keifo Higashi earned FC Tokyo a 1-1 draw away to Matsumoto, and Albirex Niigata and Sanfrecce Hiroshima finished 0-0, as did Shonan Bellmare’s game away to Tosu.