Gyeongnam remain top of the K-League despite their perfect start coming to an end as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by struggling Daegu. The visitors, looking for their first win of the season, went in front as Hong Jeong-woon took advantage of slack defending to head home from a nineteenth-minute corner. Bae Ki-jong levelled for Gyeongnam after similarly loose marking from a free-kick on sixty-seven minutes. Both sides pushed for the winner but there were no further goals.
Despite picking up an away point, Daegu slipped to the bottom of the league. They were leapfrogged by Ulsan, whose 3-1 win at home to Gangwon gave them their first points of the season and saw Ulsan jump two places to tenth. This defeat was Gangwon’s second in succession and leaves them fourth, having conceded six goals in two games.
Ulsan also move above FC Seoul, who could only manage a 0-0 draw at ten-man Suwon. Choi Sung-keun was sent off for the home side with twenty minutes to play, but Seoul couldn’t find a way through in a match that ultimately petered out after an energetic opening period. The bottom three sides are separated only by goals scored, all on three points.
Jeonbuk moved up to second, swapping places with Pohang Steelers by defeating them 2-0. Both sides were wasteful in front of goal before Lee Dong-gook put the visitors ahead with a penalty on 67 minutes. Ten minutes later Son Jun-ho, signed from Pohang for this season, doubled Jeonbuk’s lead with a right-footed shot from 20 yards.
There was late drama as Incheon and Jeonnam drew 2-2. Stefan Mugosa controlled well to put Incheon ahead early on. Jeonnam responded by putting the hosts under pressure, leading to Park Jong-jin slicing an attempted clearance into his own net to level the score after half an hour. Jeonnam were reduced to ten men as Han Chan-hee was sent off for a bad challenge just before the hour. Incheon went on to control territory and finally went back in front in stoppage time when Mugosa got his second of the game, glancing a fantastic header just inside the post following a cross from the right. Jeonnam went for broke and were rewarded with an equaliser as Choi Jae-hyun tapped in on 95 minutes to earn the visitors what had seemed an unlikely point. These two sides occupy the middle two places in the table with Incheon sixth and Jeonnam seventh.
Jeju drew 0-0 at home with Sangju Sangmu, leaving the two sides in eighth and ninth positions respectively.
Global Football
