Ulsan Hyundai hold on to five-point lead at top of K League

Gustavo of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors [YONHAP]

Ulsan Hyundai hold on to their five-point lead over Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors for another week, with both teams picking up three points on Saturday.

Ulsan beat the Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2-1 at home on Saturday, while Jeonbuk beat Seongnam FC 3-2 at home.

It was a one-sided match for Ulsan, who controlled 53 percent of the ball and hammered 20 shots at the Suwon goal, 12 of which were on target.

Both teams failed to score in the first half. Lee Gyu-sung of Ulsan opened the scoring in the 51st minute, with Um Won-sang added another in the 63th minute. The Bluewings found a chance four minutes later with a goal from An Byong-jun, but it was not enough to change the result.

Jeonbuk won a five-goal thriller against bottom club Seongnam on Saturday. Gustavo of Jeonbuk scored a brace, opening the scoring in the 39th minute then adding Jeonbuk's second goal in the 74th minute.

But the match was not as one-sided as it was expected to be, with Goo Bon-cheul and Milos Raickovic of Seongnam FC scoring in the 68th and 90th minutes.

In the end, it was Park Jin-seop's third goal for Jeonbuk that won the match. In the 81st minute, Park connected with Paik Seung-ho's corner, sending it past the Seongnam goalkeeper to score the winner.

After Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors narrowed the points difference by defeating Gimcheon Sangmu on July 2, Ulsan will be able to keep the five-point lead for another two weeks as the K League takes a 15-day hiatus for the upcoming 2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship kicking off Tuesday.

However, the two week break could favor the runner-up team as it has in the past. This June, Jeonbuk came back with a bang after the 18-day break K League took for the national team friendlies, beating the top club 3-1.

That win was what seemed to have changed Jeonbuk's momentum, as Jeonbuk stayed undefeated from then on.

The break could also be a chance for the teams in the second half of the standings to try and turn the game around, especially for FC Seoul.

For FC Seoul, the break might give their new forward Stanislav Iljutcenko time to adapt to the team after recently moving from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motor.

Despite the German forward's goal-scoring form dropping this season, Iljutcenko was able to score on his first appearance for FC Seoul on Saturday.

This is Iljutcenko's third club in the K League after arriving in 2019 with the Pohang Steelers, he scored nine goals in 18 matches in his debut season with the Steelers, before going on to score 19 goals in the 2020 season, making him the second-highest scorer in the league.

Iljutcenko then moved to Jeonbuk last season, where he scored 15 goals to tie for third place in the league.

Coming back from the break, FC Seoul will be looking to capitalize on their reinforced squad, especially as Iljutcenko will be reunited with former Pohang goal-scoring partner Aleksandar Palocevic and with Hwang In-beom extending his stay with FC Seoul.

K League will resume on July 30.

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