Recap: Daejeon Citizen 0-2 Gyeongnam FC

Daejeon slumped to their fourth straight defeat on Sunday, losing 2-0 to league leaders Gyeongnam and coupled with Seongnam's win earlier in the afternoon, drop to the foot of the K League Challenge table. Skipper Kim Jinkyu (above) was sent off in the 47 minute for Citizen.

Image from Facebook.com/dcfc1997



Goals from Marcao and Kim Doyeop sealed the points for Gyeongnam in the 2-0 win at Purple Arena who maintain their stronghold on first place in the K League Challenge standings.

The first goal of the afternoon came after just eight minutes when Marcao rose above all to nod home from the edge of the box following a deep cross from the left hand-side.

Daejeon failed to clear their lines properly after a Gyeongnam corner, allowing the visitors to patiently rebuild their attack and subsequently take the lead.

Just after the restart Daejeon were reduced to ten men when captain Kim Jinkyu was dismissed in the second minute of the first half after receiving a second yellow card.

The former FC Seoul defender was a fraction late in closing down an advancing Marcao, scything the Brazilian down in his own half in a one-on-one situation.

Daejeon's play did merit something from the game, particularly in the first 45, but with 10 men for the entire second half, it was always going to be a struggle for Lee Youngik's men.

Inevitably, legs tired and Daejeon conceded a late second, this time to Kim Doyeop whose goal sealed the points for Gyeongnam's on 82 minutes.

Right winger Jung Wonjin sprung the offside trap, getting in behind Daejeon's leaky back four, before threading the ball through to Kim Doyeop who had the simplest of tap-ins from point from point blank range.

The result now means that Daejeon have just one league victory of the 2017 season and are rooted to the foot of the table, three points behind fellow strugglers Seongnam and 11 behind Bucheon who occupy the last playoff place.

Questions will be asked of the manager's suitability of the role who, at the age of 50, is in his debut season as a manager having spent his entire coaching career as a coach.

Continuity has been a problem, with Lee Youngik proving to be something of a tinkerman, making wholesale changes to his first eleven on a game-to-game basis.

The result is a team that look like strangers who lack any sort of fluidity or cohesion, nor do Citizen seemingly know how to get the best out of their star players.

Leading goal scorer Cristian Danalache, who netted 19 league goals for Sunday's opponents Gyeongnam last year, has four but only one of those goals came in a victory, the 2-1 win over Seoul E-Land.

In Lee Youngiks front three of a 4-3-3, Danalache has had no fewer than seven different wingers play alongside him.

The manager's scatter-gun selection policy is hurting the team, the 2017 is already beginning to look like a write-off.

At the weekend, Daejeon take on promotion-chasing Bucheon away from home in what will be another tough test and thus, questions will have to be raised on when Daejeon's next win is going to come.

Stats from Soccerway.com