Dalian Shide egded Chonbuk Hyundai Motors 1-0 at home to move three points clear at the top of AFC Champions League Group E.

Zou Jie hit the winner on 40 minutes with a clinical finish from Zhai Yanpeng's long ball upfield to give Dalian their fourth continental cup competition victory over a South Korean side.

"We only scored one goal in this game but we should have scored more," Zou admitted after the match. "This is my first goal against a Korean team so I'm very excited."

The 25-year-old striker, who started his Dalian career in an attacking midfield position, has hit the target so often over the past year that he has been billed as the new Hao Haidong. "I don't think I've taken over from Hao Haidong," Zou said. "I trained with him for many years and I still think I have a long way to go to reach his level."

Zou, who also scored in Dalian's CSL derby win over Liaoning last weekend, added: "Although I scored a goal today I'm not satisfied with my performance. But we are confident of getting through the group stage. No matter what team we meet, we will try our best to win."

Shide's next AFC Champions League game is an away clash with Japanese outfit Gamba (who thrashed Vietnam's Da Nang by a rugby score in Matchday 2) on 12 April.

Dalian Shide: Chen Dong; Liu Yu, Zhang Yaokun, Ji Mingyi, Wang Sheng; Zhai Yanpeng, Zhao Xuri (Liu Cheng 82'), Hu Zhaojun; Zoran Jankovic, Zou Jie, Miodrag Pantelic

Group E results & fixtures:

Matchday 1:
8 March: Da Nang 0-2 Dalian Shide
8 March: Chonbuk 3-2 Gamba

Matchday 2:
22 March: Dalian 1-0 Chonbuk
22 March: Gamba 15-0 Da Nang

Matchday 3:
12 April: Gamba v Dalian
12 April: Chonbuk v Da Nang

Matchday 4:
26 April: Da Nang v Chonbuk
26 April: Dalian v Gamba

Matchday 5:
3 May: Gamba v Chonbuk
3 May: Dalian v Da Nang

Matchday 6:
17 May: Da Nang v Gamba
17 May: Chonbuk v Dalian

Standings after Matchday 2:
Dalian 6
Gamba 3
Chonbuk 3
Da Nang 0

(Sinosoc.com March 23, 2006)