Ulsan hold on to top spot after another week of K League action

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Ulsan hold on to top spot after another week of K League action

Published: 01 May. 2023, 15:21

Ulsan Hyundai players celebrate during a game against Gwangju FC at Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan on Sunday in a photo shared on the club's official Instagram account. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Ulsan Hyundai held on to their six-point league at the top of the K League standings on Sunday, beating Gwangju 2-1 at home to round off a busy week for Korea’s top tier.

All the excitement came in the final 10 minutes at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, with Gwangju substitute Lee Kang-hyun opening the scoring in the 82nd minute, only for the home side to hammer in two in four minutes to end the game — Valeri Qazaishvili in the 87th minute and Joo Min-kyu in stoppage time.

Remarkably, the league leaders were the only home side to take a win over the weekend. The five other winners — the K League went without a draw in the latest round of matches — all went to road teams.

Second-place FC Seoul made short work of eighth-place Suwon FC in a dominant 3-0 rout on Saturday, with goals from two goals from Na Sang-ho following an opener from Han Chan-hee.

Earlier on Saturday, Gangwon FC took a 1-0 win on the road in Jeonju, North Jeolla, with the 11th-place club beating the 10th-place Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 1-0.

All the action came in injury time at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, with Yang Hyun-jun putting the visitors ahead six minutes into stoppage time at the end of the game.

The drama didn’t stop with the late winner, however, as Jeonbuk’s Hong Jeong-ho and Kim Moon-hwan were both sent off for arguing with the referee immediately after the goal.

Back on Sunday, the third-place Pohang Steelers slipped further behind FC Seoul after losing 2-0 to ninth-place Incheon United, while the winless Suwon Samsung Bluewings remained just that, losing 1-0 to Daegu.

Fourth-place Daejeon Hana Citizen, a newly-promoted side this season that started the new campaign in incredible form, took a 3-0 hammering to fifth-place Jeju United, but hold on to a three-point lead on the league table.

The majority of the K League clubs will get a rest this week before the league returns next weekend with three games on Friday: FC Seoul vs. Jeonbuk, Daegu vs. Ulsan and Incheon vs. the Bluewings.

Moving into the weekend, Jeju will face the Steelers on Saturday, when Suwon FC play Gangwon and Gwangju take on Daejeon.

Gangwon are the only club with any midweek action this week, as they face K League 2 side Cheongju in a rescheduled FA Cup third round game at Gangneung Stadium on Tuesday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]