Jeju suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat away at Ulsan on Tuesday night. One goal in the first half and then three in 10 second-half minutes put the game well beyond the boys from Seogwipo. The Tigers from Ulsan stayed ahead of Pohang at the top of the league while United dropped to eighth.
Jeju went into the game hoping to bounce back from defeat against Suwon Bluewings at the weekend. A win could have taken the Orange level third and back in the race for Asian Champions League places. The loss, however, was met with Seoul FC and Busan IPark wins, resulting in Park Kyung Hoon’s side dropping out of the playoff places.
Park had never lost away at Ulsan, but that run never looked like continuing as the Tigers took a 24th-minute lead. Han Sang-Woon floated a free kick into the box from the left and poor defending allowed Kim Shin-Wook to nonchalantly head unchallenged into the net for his 11th of 2013. Seven Jeju defenders stood and watched the ball fly past the helpless Park
Jun-Hyuk.
It was the same story again for the second. Just four minutes into the second half and a headed clearance fell to Choi Bo-Kyung on the right. He moved it on to his left foot and swung in a ball toward the back post. Kang Min-Soo was allowed to ghost in and without any challenge nod the ball past Park for his first of the season. Three United defenders failed to put an aerial challenge in.
The third was a contender for goal of the month just seven minutes later. On 56 minutes United lost the ball out on the right and the Tigers quickly broke. Brazilian Caique collected it in the center circle and released Yong Lee as he raced into the United half. The angle seemed to be too tight, but he took one touch, looked up, and drove into the top corner from 25 yards out. Park in United’s goal could only grasp at air and United were staring at defeat.
Things went from bad to worse just three minutes after the restart. Han Sang-Woon tried to turn in the penalty area and the ball struck the palm of United defender Yong Lee. It looked soft, but replays showed it was a good call from the referee. Kim Shin-Wook, a thorn in United’s side all game, stepped up and drilled it into the corner for his 12th of 2013.
Coach Park was visibly shocked by the sudden onslaught, but he managed to rally the players and they had chances to get back into the game. Pedro in particular had a chance saved by Ulsan’s
Seung-Gyu Kim and put a free kick over the bar.
With United chasing the game, the play was inevitably stretched and Ulsan had chances to make it five, but there were to be no more goals.
United must now have serious concern for their patchy form and memories of sitting second in the K League Classic will be a distant memory. Most disappointing for Park will have been soft defending for the first two goals. United are without a clean sheet in eight games and have leaked 18 goals in that time. Three of their last five league games have ended in defeat.
Park stated that his goal was to push the top two but his side has fallen dramatically since then. Next up is Incheon United at the Seogwipo World Cup Stadium and United has not lost to the Cranes since 2009, a run of seven games. Park will not be putting much emphasis on that statistic, however; before Tuesday night he had not tasted defeat at Ulsan.
The Incheon game kicks off at the World Cup Stadium at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 21.
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