Seongnam beat Incheon for first win in 70 days

The K League saw two upsets over the weekend as bottom club Seongnam FC romped over No. 5 Incheon United 3-1 on Saturday, while No. 7 FC Seoul beat No. 3 Pohang Steelers 2-1.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players enter Jeonju World Cup Stadium on Saturday with a dog to promote dog blood donation ahead of a match against Jeju United. The muzzle the dog is wearing is the same kind worn when dogs donate blood. [NEWS1]

The K League saw two upsets over the weekend as bottom club Seongnam FC romped over No. 5 Incheon United 3-1 on Saturday, while No. 7 FC Seoul beat No. 3 Pohang Steelers 2-1.

The K League resumed on Saturday after a two-week hiatus for the EAFF E-1 Football Championship and that break must have done the bottom club some good, as Seongnam cut their winless streak to eight matches. Saturday was Seongnam's first win in 70 days.

While Seongnam hammered at the Incheon post throughout the match, all four goals came in the second half. Kwon Wan-kyu of Seongnam opened the scoring in the 51st minute, but Min Kyung-hyun of Incheon leveled the score in the 64th minute with a shot from the left that went straight past the goalkeeper.

Four minutes later, Seongnam's Park Su-il found his chance. Park found the ball from a defensive blunder from the Incheon side then slotted in a screamer from outside the box with his right foot.

But Seongnam was not done just yet. Goo Bon-cheul scored the last goal in the 74th minute, connecting an on-point pass from teammate Manuel Palacios on the left.

Seongnam had 25 shots, 14 of which were on target, while Incheon only had nine shots, two of which were on target.

The great performance against the fifth-placed club on Saturday could be the start of a Seongnam comeback that could potentially enable them to escape the relegation zone. They are still at the bottom of the standings, six points behind the Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

Another upset on Saturday was by No. 7 FC Seoul, who came back to beat the Steelers 2-1 at Pohang Steelyard in Pohang.

Heo Yong-jun of the Steelers opened the scoring in the 26th minute and the first half finished 1-0.

For FC Seoul, all eyes were on new forward Stanislav Iljutcenko, who recently signed with the Seoul club after moving from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

In the second half, it was the German forward who set it up perfectly for Ko Kwang-min to push into the net to score the equalizer after some confusion in front of the Pohang goal.

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.

Then, after a handball, from Pohang toward the end of the match, Seoul's Na Sang-ho was given the penalty and scored the second goal for Seoul to win the match.

On the top of the table, 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 Gangwon FC 2-1, while Jeonbuk beat Jeju United 1-0.

The K League continues with their weekday fixtures on Tuesday.

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