by Liam Birch at Daejeon World Cup Stadium
A dire affair at the Purple Arena on Saturday ended triumphantly as substitute Lee Je-Kyu fired Daejeon to a late victory over Chunnam Dragons.
In a dreadfully poor game, Daejeon, without influential play maker Valber and leading scorer Ko Chang-Hyeon, never looked like troubling the visitors in the early going. Indeed, in a game of very few chances, the one positive that Daejeon can take is that they bossed the midfield, with Kwon Jib and Lee Song-Un being particularly solid.
The game also saw the return of ex-Daejeon favourite Shuva, who has been heavily linked to a move back to Citizen this summer. It was the Brazilian who should have given Chunnam the lead midway through the first half. With his height a constant threat to the Daejeon defence, he really should have buried his free header. A cross from the left was met by the leaping Shuva who's header fortunately sailed past Choi Eun-Song's right hand post.
It was one of the only notable attempts in a first half that Daejeon dominated without challenging the Chunnam keeper. Park Sung-Ho had numerous weak efforts lamely roll wide and without the creativity of Valber or the dead-ball specialist Ko, it was difficult to see where the breakthrough would come.
As the second half began, Daejeon had several long-range attempts which again, barely troubled Yom Dong-Kyun in the Chunnam goal. Most notably, Woo Song-Je, who looks revitalized following the departure of Kim Ho, had several attempts sail harmlessly wide.
Chunnam rarely troubled Choi in the Daejeon goal as the game was becoming a stalemate in the middle of the park. And just as the game entered it's 90th minute, Daejeon struck.
A ball into the area from the left found Lee Je-Kyu who turned his man before firing expertly into the far right corner. It was a goal that Daejeon probably deserved based on their midfield dominance, but it came as a shock nonetheless.
Cue wild celebrations in the south stand as Daejeon moved to five games unbeaten and up to 12th in the K-League. Daejeon have one more home game remaining before travelling to Suwon away on the 19th, by which time, if results go their way, could be just two points from the playoff positions. Who would have thought that could be possible just a few weeks ago?
MOM: Woo Sung-Je
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