Professional football K League 2 side Chungnam Asan FC pulled off a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Chungbuk Cheongju FC thanks to a ‘theatre goal’ from Park Dae-hoon just before the end of the match.

Chungnam Asan defeated Chungbuk Cheongju 3-2 in a hard-fought match in the 26th round of the Hana OneQ K League 2 2023 at the Asan Sunshin Sports Complex in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do on Thursday.

With their 11th win of the season, Chungnam Asan (6 draws, 16 losses) increased their points tally to 39. They remain in 10th place in the standings.

On the other hand, Chungbuk Cheongju (12 wins, 11 draws, 9 losses – 47 points), who were hoping to leapfrog into the mid-table, failed to reach 50 points and remained in seventh place.

Chungnam Asan had the last laugh in the second meeting following the first ‘Chungcheongnam Derby’ between the two teams, which took place at Chungbuk Cheongju’s home on 18 April. On that occasion, Chungnam Asan defeated Chungbuk Cheongju 4-0.

Chungnam Asan took the lead in the 17th minute when Park Dae-hoon intercepted a passing mistake by the Chungbuk Cheongju defence and his left-footed cut-back found Kang Min-kyu, who was diving into the box.

Then, Chungbuk Cheongju brought on Jorji, who has the most goals in the team.

After a header from Jung Min-woo found its way into the back of the defence, he used his quick feet to outrun the Chungnam Asan defenders, advance into the box, and shoot with his left foot to equalise. It was his 12th goal of the season.

He added an assist in the 35th minute when he headed a ball in from the back to Lee Seung-jae.

Lee scored his second goal of the game when he headed home a ball from George’s header.

It was Brazilian winger Hapael, who joined the team this summer, who came to the rescue for Chungnam Asan as the deficit deepened.

Entered in the 35th minute of the second half, Hapael used his concentration to rattle the net in a chaotic situation in the penalty area six minutes later to bring the game back to level terms. He calmly finished with his right foot from a ball laid off by Park Dae-hoon.

Park Dae-hoon, who had assisted on two earlier goals, scored a thrilling theatre goal of his own just before the end of the game to turn the tie around.

In second-half stoppage time, Chungnam Asan were on the front foot and a cross from the left flank bounced off the post and Park wasted no time in heading it home.

Chungbuk Cheongju goalkeeper Park Dae-hyun initially threw his body out of the way, but the video assistant referee (VAR) ruled that the ball crossed the goal line, giving Chungnam Asan the last laugh. 스포츠토토