A freak last-gasp goal from Atsuto Uchida earned Japan a 1-0 win over Bahrain and they top Group Two ahead of their rivals.

Uchida's header looped into the penalty area, bouncing in front of Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Mohamed Jaafar before clearing the custodian and nestling in the back of the net to hand Takeshi Okada's side the strangest of winners.

The game had looked to be heading for a draw after Shunsuke Nakamura's early penalty was saved while Yasuhito Endo hit the woodwork with a free kick late in the first half.

Jaafar had looked set to be the hero of the evening when he palmed the Celtic midfielder's fifth minute penalty to safety after Hisato Sato had been upended in the penalty area by Sayed Mohamed Adnan.

Despite failing to take the lead, the Japanese controlled the tempo of the first half, but struggled to find a way past the visitors' defence.

Indeed, it was the Bahrainis who had one of the few opportunities in the opening 45 minutes when Fauzi Mubarak A'aish unleashed his attempt from 30 yards only for Seigo Narazaki to collect at the second attempt.

With the half going into injury time, Japan should have taken the lead.

Endo's free kick curled and dipped over the defensive wall, striking the underside of the crossbar. Keisuke Honda - making his debut for Japan – was first to react, only to miss-hit his attempt to score into an unguarded net.

Narazaki was again on hand to deny A'aish eight minutes into the second half when the midfielder tried another shot from long range while, as time ran out, the home side pushed for the winner.

Substitute Koji Yamase swooped on Abbas Saeed Ayyad's poor back pass only to see Mohamed Husain clear off the line before another attempt from the Yokohama F. Marinos man sailed over the bar.

Keiji Tamada then tried his luck from the edge of the penalty area, sending his left foot attempt just wide of Jaafar's right post but, just as Japan looked to be missing the scoring touch, Uchida's bizarre header cleared the goalkeeper to give his side the three points.