Koreans in Europe: Hwang gets an assist in Sheffield loss

Football

Published: 06 Nov. 2023, 09:43 Updated: 06 Nov. 2023, 17:23

Koreans in Europe: Hwang gets an assist in Sheffield loss

Sheffield United goalkeeper Wes Foderingham, center right, Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha, right, and Hwang Hee-chan, left battle for the ball, during a Premier League match at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, England on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

Hwang Hee-chan picked up an assist as Wolverhampton Wanderers suffered a tough 2-1 loss on the road on to Sheffield United on Saturday.

The loss, which came from a penalty 10 minutes into stoppage time at the end of the second half, ends an impressive run for Wolves, who hadn’t lost a league game since Sept. 16.

All three goals on Saturday came in the final half hour of action, with Cameron Archer putting Sheffield ahead in the 72nd minute, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde equalizing in the 89th and the home team pulling it back 11 minutes later.

Hwang’s assist for the Bellegarde goal — setting up the French midfielder in the box after Sheffield lost possession — marks his fifth consecutive game with some level of goal involvement.

Hwang, who has six goals and two assists on the campaign and has only been kept completely quiet in three games so far this season, scored last week against Newcastle, provided an assist against Bournemouth on Oct. 21 and scored against Aston Villa on Oct. 8 and Manchester City on Sept. 30.

Saturday’s game marks Wolves’ penultimate clash before the next international break — that’ll be three in as many months and presumably some very good numbers racked up on Hwang’s mileage account — with one big fixture still to come next week: The Korean Derby between Hwang’s Wolves and Son Heung-min’s Tottenham Hotspur.

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