Lee Jong-ho's leveller keeps Dragon's unbeaten run intact away at Bucheon

Bucheon 1995 and Jeonnam Dragons played out a deserved draw in rainy Bucheon on Saturday. KLU's Joshua Higgins looked at what happened and gives his review of the season so far for the Dragons.

Result

Bucheon 1995 1 - 1 Jeonnam Dragons

What happened?

Both teams started positively at the Bucheon Stadium, with the home side's three centre backs keeping the ball at the back, looking to draw Jeonnam out to create space in behind, but the Dragons were more vulnerable in the early moments when put under pressure, which led to an early chance for Park Chang-jun, but his effort was straight at the goalkeeper.

The Dragons changed things around slightly for the trip up north to Bucheon, most significantly captain Lee Jong-ho was given a holding midfield role with the hope he could orchestrate Jeonnam attacks from deep. In the first half it was clear he had been given the freedom to make runs in to the box from his central position. This led to the Dragons first chance of the game when Lee made an unmarked run into the box but his header went well over the bar.

Bucheon's goal came from some nice interplay from a throw in, and although the away side would've been disappointed to concede, as they should've had ample time to set up for the throw in, the speed and precision of the goal meant it was well deserved.

Last year's signing of left back Oleg Zoteev raised a few eyebrows when it was clear Jeonnam were lacking a goal threat, but since his arrival the Uzbeki has been a major influence on almost every game he has played for the south Jeolla team. The equaliser stemmed from Oleg's tireless work ethic, he managed to keep the ball in play after winning a header and poked the ball to Samuel who drove toward goal, his shot was poorly saved and went directly into the path of Lee Jong-ho who had made one of his runs from deep to slide the ball into the back of the net. 

The second half was largely two similarly matched teams fighting for control of the ball, but both sides failing to dominate for any period of time. The Dragons could've, and perhaps should've, won the game late on, in the 86th minute Samuel laid the ball off perfectly just outside the 18 yard box for substitute Seo Myeong-won, only for him to take a heavy touch, giving enough time for Bucheon's Yun Ji-hyuk to recover and cause Seo to put his shot wide, condemning both sides to settle for a deserved point. 

Highlights

History repeating itself 

One win and three draws from their opening four matches, included stalemates with Seoul E-Land and Chungnam Asan, and plucky win versus one of the league's favourites, is this 2020 again? The Dragons, and the world, will certainly hope not. 

The season might be young but it's easy to see comparisons in Jeonnam's game and place in the table to last year. Currently unbeaten, but never look convincing enough to justify a win, joint fewest goals scored in the league, and joint second best defence. 

The problems of last season could be whittled down to a lack of goals, it's too early to say if manager Jeon Kyung-jun has learned lessons from last year or not, as it may take time for the new look attack, including new foreign signings Samuel and Alex, to gel, but for now the evidence on the first few games points to a Dragons side that is all too familiar, tough to beat, but tough to lose to as well.

Fixtures

The K League takes a break this weekend and both teams will focus on lower league opposition in the FA cup.