Ulsan beat Jeju to extend lead at top of K League

Um Won-sang of Ulsan Hyundai, center, celebrates after scoring Ulsan's winning goal against Jeju United on Wednesday at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan. [YONHAP]

Ulsan Hyundai beat K League runners-up Jeju United at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan on Wednesday to cement their position at the top of the table.

Unsurprisingly, the top two teams in the K League looked fairly evenly matched on Wednesday, holding a 0-0 draw for 90 minutes despite Ulsan possessing 67 percent of the ball. Ulsan also had 26 shots, 17 of which were on target, while Jeju had only seven shots, four of which were on target.

Just when it seemed that both teams would be going home with one point instead of three, Ulsan’s Um Won-sang broke the silence in injury time.

Ulsan’s Kim Young-gwon sent over a long cross that both Yun Il-lok and Leonardo got a head to before Um slotted it home with his left foot.

Um has scored six goals this season, which puts him tied for fourth in top scorer table alongside teammate Leonardo, while Um has the most assists in the league at four alongside Jeju United's Joo Min-kyu.

Ulsan took the three points to widen the gap with Jeju to eight points. Ulsan has been on top of the K League table since the start of the season and now has 30 points after winning nine games, drawing three and losing one. Jeju is second with 22 points from six wins, four draws and three losses. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in third have the same number of points but drop back on goals difference.

Jeonbuk were also in action on Wednesday, beating the Pohang Steelers 1-0 with Takahiro Kuminoto scoring a goal early on in the game even though the Steelers looked stronger, had more control of the ball and took more shots and shots on target than Jeonbuk.

Gangwon also beat FC Seoul 1-0 on Wednesday. It was Hwang Mun-ki who scored the only goal in the 29th minute, cutting Gangwon’s eight-game winless streak.

The K League will continue on Saturday when Seoul face Seongnam, the Steelers face Incheon United and Gimcheon Sangmu take on Ulsan.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]