The third round of the 2017 J.League YBC Levain Cup Group Stage took place on Wednesday night, with six matches taking place across the two groups.

Group A leaders Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo took the lead against Omiya Ardija when Japanese legend Shinji Ono scored in the 16th minute, but they were unable to extend their winning streak to three matches after Ardija’s Yusuke Segawa equalised to force a 1-1 draw.

At Yurtec Stadium, Vegalta Sendai found themselves trailing visiting Shimizu S-Pulse when Tiago Alves scored in the 31st minute. But the hosts were all smiles in the end thanks to second-half goals by Hirotaka Mita, Keiya Shiihashi, and Crislan to make it 3-1.

Jubilo Iwata rookie Koki Ogawa celebrated his first professional goal in the 11th minute against FC Tokyo, then gave home fans more to cheer about when he scored in the 22nd and 62nd minutes to complete the hat-trick. 

Tokyo spent the majority of the match with 10 men after goalkeeper Takuo Okubo was shown a red card in his top team debut, with backup Go Hatano also making his first senior start as a result.

Vissel Kobe rose to the top of the Group B standings at the end of the night, with Junya Tanaka scoring twice in their 4-1 win over Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Yokohama F. Marinos easily handled Albirex Niigata in their 4-1 win, while Sagan Tosu and Cerezo Osaka slugged out a 4-4 draw that saw Daichi Kamada and Kota Mizunuma pick up two goals each for the hosts and visitors respectively.

The next Levain Cup matchday will take place on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 3, a national holiday in Japan.