Brendon Santalab scored his first goal for the season to fire Chengdu Blades to the top of the Chinese 1st Division.

Santalab's goal helped the Blades to a 2-1 win over Beijing Institute Technology to give them three wins from their opening three matches and put them in a good position to push for immediate promotion.

Chengdu were relegated from the Chinese Super League prior to this season after being found guilty of match fixing.

The goal was Santalab's 10th for the club after the Australian striker scored nine in 13 appearances in China's top flight last term.