Professional soccer’s K League 1 Daegu FC held on to an early goal by Go Jae-hyun to reclaim seventh place.
Daegu earned a 1-0 home win over Jeju United in the 28th round of the Hana OneQ K League 2023 at Daegu DGB Park on Saturday.
It was the first win in seven games for Daegu, who had been winless in their last six matches with four draws and two losses.
They also maintained their two-game winning streak against Jeju this season.
With the three additional points, Daegu moved up one spot to seventh place with 38 points, overtaking Daejeon (37).
In round 26, Jeju, which hadn’t won in 11 games, fell back into a losing streak.
Jeju remained in ninth place with 34 points.
Daegu created the decisive moments of the match early on, firing off seven shots in the first half alone, all of which were on target.
In the third minute of the first half, Vassellus’ left-footed shot from the left side of the penalty area was blocked by a super save from the goalkeeper, while a minute later, Sejingya’s golden chance in the midst of a scramble was also saved by the goalkeeper’s legs.
In the eighth minute of the first half, Beltola broke down the opposing defense with a stinging through ball, and from the left side of the penalty area, Vasellus struck a powerful shot with the instep of his right foot, but goalkeeper Kim Dong-joon made an animalistic save.
After ending the first half at 0-0, Daegu took the lead in the 16th minute of the second half through Go Jae-hyun.
Sejingya’s ball from the right corner was headed by Munjeon’s Hong Jung-woon, but it bounced off the goalkeeper’s line, and Go Jae-hyun, who showed his full concentration, trapped the second ball with his chest and slid it in with his right foot to rattle the net.
Jeju, who threatened Daegu’s goal with nearly 70 percent of the ball possession in the second half, were left to rue their lack of finishing.
In the 38th minute of the second half, Song Ju-hoon, who was rushing into the box to meet Lee Ki-hyuk’s cross, stuck out his right leg, but it went wide of the goal.
Daegu, which blocked Jeju’s wave of attacks, defended Ko Jae-hyun’s first goal until the end to secure the victory.
At Gangneung Sports Complex, Gangwon FC and Pohang Steelers battled to a 1-1 draw.
A win would have knocked Suwon Samsung (22 points) to the bottom of the table and moved them up to 11th place.
With the one point, Gangwon has 21 points and is one point behind Suwon.
Pohang (50 points) extended its unbeaten streak to seven matches and remained in second place with another point.
The first goal came from the toe of Pohang’s Hong Yun-sang.
In the 16th minute, Hong Yun-sang found the back of the net for the second straight game with a right-footed inside kick from the left penalty area that found the opposite corner of the net.
Gangwon equalized in the 33rd minute through Alibayev’s “long-range” wonder goal.
Driving the ball forward from midfield, Alibayev wasted no time in unleashing a powerful shot with his right foot when he saw the angle of the shot, finding the top corner of the goal beyond the goalkeeper’s reach for his first goal for Gangwon. 먹튀검증