Daejeon Citizen 1-0 Gwangju FC Recap

Seemingly, for Daejeon Citizen, victories are like buses - none and then two come at once.

Following their first win of the season on Sunday, impressively displacing high-flying Suwon Samsung Bluewings, Daejeon notched their second win of the campaign in matter of days.

Attentions turned from the bread and butter of the league and to the FA Cup with visit of Gwangju, a side who had already comfortably beaten Daejeon back in March.

Photo credit: DCFC.co.kr

Daejeon had chosen to rest several of their key players and had fielded, largely, a new eleven from that that beat Suwon at the weekend.

And, despite the game getting off to a slow start, it didn’t seem to matter as Daejeon booked their place in the 5^th round with a 1-0 win over Gwangju.

There wasn’t much between the two sides in the opening 45 with neither team showing any real cutting edge.

Gilberto threatened for Gwangju with his power and pace, managing to get in behind but was snuffed out by Citizen’s backline with relative ease.

Daejeon tried to get a rhythm going, passing the ball around with great intent but were unable to find that killer pass.

But, almost as soon as the Purples began to threaten they were reduced to ten men when Hwang In-Beom was dismissed for a reckless challenge.

Despite his pleas of innocence, the Daejeon number 13 was sent for an early shower and his team mates were facing an uphill struggle, with over an hour still left to play

The scores remained level at half time.

The second half started off slowly with neither team looking all that willing to take the game by the scuff of the neck.

Opting for pacey front men with the likes of Adriano on their books, Daejeon’s counter attacking game has been key to any fortune they have had, last season’s K League Challenge title being the prime example.

It was with his counter attack that Daejeon took the lead.

Doing what they do best, Daejeon hit Gwangju on the break and found themselves a goal to the good.

Kim Young-Seung, a player who has found first team opportunities limited at Purple Arena, got beyond the front two to place a shot in the bottom right corner from the edge of the box.

Just when it appeared that the Daejeon number 15 had walked into a dead end, opting to usher the ball onto his right foot, the twenty two year old picked his spot and expertly converted much to the delight to the hundreds in attendance.

The goal seemed to shake Gwangju into life and the match became heated with a few spirited challenges overseen, and later dealt with, by the referee.

None more so than when Gwangju’s Park Sun-Hong was adjudged to have been a touch overzealous with his challenge on Citizen goalkeeper Oh Seung-Hoon.

In the first half, Oh Seung-Hoon earned himself a yellow card for vociferously appealing for a free-kick.

This appeared to be on the referee’s mind who immediately reached for his red card and the numbers were, once again, even.

But, the score was not and Gwangju began to throw everything they had at Daejeon.

The introduction of Fabio seemed to add an extra dimension to Gwangju’s attack but, still, Daejeon defended intently and were able to keep the fellow newly-promoted side at bay.

A flurry of late corners saw Gwangju goalkeeper Je Jong-Hyun try his hand at playing striker but each set piece was snuffed out by Citizen who were able to hold on to advance into the fifth round.

Two wins on the spin and with the visit of struggling Incheon United at the weekend, things just might be starting to fall into place for Citizen.

Daejeon Citizen lineup