Ulsan Hyundai 1 - Seoul E-Land 1 (6-5pens) : Recap
This was almost the Kim Young-kwang show. If we didn't already know the goalkeeper, who has reinvented himself as 'Glory' this season, had hodo kwajas the size of beachballs just for wearing that shirt then we certainly do now. His name was written into Seoul E-Land FC history when he bravely stepped up to take the first penalty of the shoot-out and fired it high into Kim Seung-gyu's net.
His very next action was to dive to his right and beat away an Ulsan penalty. Combined with a couple of wonder saves in the last few minutes of the match it was starting to look like Glory was very definitely a man on a mission. If he had been able to take all five penalties then I'm sure he would have. And probably would have scored them all too.
Sadly it wasn't quite meant to be. Bobby Cullen's penalty was fired high over the bar to send the match into sudden death and when Cho Won-hee clipped a languid penalty to his right Kim Seung-gyu managed to keep it out, with what looked like a little help from the frame of the goal, and it was goodnight E-Land.
Perhaps it would have been another story had Tarabai still been on the pitch to take a penalty but sadly fate and another dodgy referee conspired to make his FA Cup debut a short one. Subbed on at the start of extra-time he lasted just 16 minutes before being dismissed for a second yellow card. To say Martin Rennie looked surprised would be understatement of the season so far.
That's now three red cards, a manager being sent to the stands, and a penalty conceded in just half a dozen games now. That stat is even more amazing when you consider there's barely been a tackle involved in any of them. It seems that the referees have some kind of point to prove with E-Land, and that point might well be 'We're hopeless'.
The match itself was a pretty good battle between two teams that played pretty open football. There were periods of end to end action and no absence of good football to watch. Ulsan's opener came in the second half thanks to Yang Dong-hyun when he did a little bit of the Hokey-Cokey in front of Hwang Do-yeon before firing the ball past both him and Glory. It was an excellent finish.
Seoul's equaliser wasn't too shabby either. The Ulsan defence were caught napping slightly by Lee Jae-An who charged up field and zipped in a nice ball to Joo Min-kyu to apply a lovely left-footed finish.
At that point it really could have gone either way and a penalty decider was probably a fitting climax. Just a pity Kim Young-kwang couldn't quite cover himself in glory in the end.
MotM: SEFC Keeper Kim Young-Kwang managed a few wonder saves during the 120 minutes, scored a penalty and saved one too, all while wearing a red and gold leopard print shirt.
I'm thinking the E-Land Ultras should probably make that their new uniform. Just a thought.
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