Middling club Beijing Guoan FC settled for a 0-0 draw with cellar-dwelling side Shijiazhuang Ever Bright FC in a 2016 Chinese Super League season game held at the Workers' Stadium last Sunday.

Head coach Xie Feng had started four imports in the match, namely Uzbek defender Egor Krimets, Brazilian midfielders Renato Augusto and Ralf, and Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz, who have scored five times in their four previous matches, as per Soccerway.

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Yilmaz was accompanied up front by the playmaking trio of Yu Dabao as the central attacking midfielder with Zhang Chiming and Zhang Chengdong as the left and right wingers. Despite that, Guoan could still not penetrate the net of Shijiazhuang goalkeeper Guan Zhen for the whole match.

It was the second draw in the last three rounds for Beijing as the team is on a three-game unbeaten run to move up to the seventh place of the China top flight table with 33 points, overtaking Guangzhou R&F and Yanbian Funde who are currently at the eighth and ninth spots in the overall standings respectively.

Guoan is tied with Guangzhou R&F also with 33 points, but because of their superior goal difference of +3 as compared to the Blue Lions' -5, the Imperial Guards was able to earn the seventh spot.

Meanwhile, Shijiazhuang Ever Bright remained at the bottom of the 16-team table as the draw was their sixth consecutive winless performance.

The team started the game also with four imports, who are South Korean defender Cho Yong-hyung, midfielders Ruben Micael of Portugal and Matheus of Brazil, and Brazilian forward Diego Mauricio, via Sofa Score.

Head coach Li Jinyu's side had been struggling for much of the season and was only able to win once in the last 12 rounds, dropping and keeping them at the bottom of the standings for several weeks now.

With only five games left in their season, Ever Bright is at a high risk of being demoted to the China League One, the country's second division domestic competitions. According to CSL regulations, the bottom two teams at the end of a term will be relegated back to the China League One the following season.

TagsChina Football, Chinese Super League, Chinese Super League news, beijing guoan fc, Shijiazhuang Ever Bright FC