Steelers beat Three Towns; Jeonbuk lose to Bangkok United

The Pohang Steelers were the only K League team with a reason to rejoice on Wednesday, beating the Wuhan Three Towns 3-1 in an AFC Champions League game while the Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors suffered a 3-2 loss to Bangkok United

The Pohang Steelers' Zeca, right, celebrates with Hong Yun-sang after scoring a goal against the Wuhan Three Towns during an AFC Champions League group stage match at Pohang Steelyard in Pohang, North Gyeongsang on Wednesday. [AFC]

The Pohang Steelers were the only K League team with a reason to rejoice on Wednesday, beating the Wuhan Three Towns 3-1 in an AFC Champions League game while the Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors suffered a 3-2 loss to Bangkok United.

The Steelers faced Three Towns of China in Pohang, North Gyeongsang and conceded an early goal in the 10th minute to Abdul-Aziz Yakubu, who slotted in a ball with a half volley inside the penalty area.

Shin Kwang-hoon’s equalizer in the 12th minute changed the flow of the game, with the Steelers creating multiple chances from that point.

The Steelers also gained an advantage, as Three Towns went one man down after midfielder Xie Pengfei received a red card in the 39th minute for a heavy tackle on Oberdan.

The first half still ended at 1-1 with no more goals, but the Steelers dominated the second half thanks to Zeca’s performance.

He made it 2-1 in the 54th minute after a tidy shot inside the penalty area and scored another in injury time to seal the team’s 3-1 win.

The victory was the Steelers’ second consecutive win in Group J.

Over in Thailand, Jeonbuk failed to secure their second win in Group F after a five-goal thriller that involved two owns goals.

Jeonbuk opened the scoring in the 19th minute thanks to Thossawat Limwannasathian’s own goal, but Rungrath Poomchantuek made it 1-1 in the 26th minute.

Ahn Hyun-beom then scored an own goal in the 58th minute, before Bangkok United’s Willen Mota made it 3-1 in the 82nd minute.

Moon Seon-min put one back and made it 3-2 in the 88th minute, but the damage was done and the home side walked away with the win.

Four K League teams are competing in this year’s Champions League: Ulsan Hyundai, Incheon United, Jeonbuk and the Steelers.

The four teams will be back in Champions League action at the end of October.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]