Na Sang-ho forced Choi Chul-won to tip a rising shot over the bar inside the opening two minutes as Machida made a lively start and the FC Seoul goalkeeper was on hand again 15 minutes later to gather Daihachi Okamura’s header towards goal.

Yuta Nakayama tried his luck from distance for the hosts with the halfway point in the opening period approaching, but the Japan international fullback fired high over the bar.

Machida went much closer in the 31st minute when Na’s cross was only cleared as far as Yuki Soma and the winger bent his right foot strike beyond Choi but the shot came back off the post.

 

FC Seoul thought they had been given a penalty seven minutes before the break after Choi Jun went down inside the area as he spun past Kotaro Hayashi but, following a lengthy review on the pitch side monitor, referee Asker Nadjafaliev overturned his initial decision.

Machida continued to be the more positive team, Ibrahim Dresevic dragging his shot wide from 20 yards out in the eighth minute of the second half so, when FC Seoul’s opener arrived, it came against the run of play.

Lee Seung-mo pounced on Gen Shoji’s attempt to play the ball out of defence to feed Jesse Lingard down the right, and the former Manchester United forward played a low ball across the face of goal for Dugandzic to sweep home with a first-time finish.

Machida pressed for the equaliser and, in the 80th minute, their efforts were rewarded. Hokuto Shimoda’s centre was miss-hit by Shota Fujio seven yards from goal, but the ball ended up at the feet of Mochizuki and he scored via the inside of the post.

Fujio then flashed his volley over the bar deep into injury time as Machida missed out on taking all three points.