The 41-year-old came off the bench to score the only goal of the game at Jeonju World Cup Stadium.
Jeonju (South Korea): Veteran striker Lee Dong-Gook scored six minutes from time to help Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors overcome 10-man Suwon Samsung Bluewings’ as the 2020 K-League season finally made its coronavirus-delayed start on Friday.
The 41-year-old came off the bench to score the only goal of the game at Jeonju World Cup Stadium for the defending champions after Suwon had seen Terry Antonis sent off with 15 minutes remaining for a dangerous tackle on Son Jun-ho.
Playing in front of an empty stadium due to restrictions put in place to prevent the further spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Suwon looked set to hold on to claim a point until Lee’s late intervention.
The Korean FA Cup holders were forced to sit deep for much of the game but, with new signing Doneil Henry in commanding form, Lee Lim-saeng’s side were rarely under serious threat of conceding.
The clearest opportunity to open the scoring fell to the visitors when, with just under 20 minutes on the clock, last season’s leading scorer Adam Taggart looked set to continue from where he left off in 2019 when he was played in behind the defence by Ko Seung-beom.
The assistant referee kept his flag by his side despite the Australian looking to be in an offside position and goalkeeper Song Bum-kuen managed to push the low shot to safety.
It was a rare sight of goal for Suwon as Jose Morais’ side dominated much of the first 45 minutes without creating many clear cut chances. Cho Kyu-sung and Son Jun-ho made vain attempts from distance before Murilo Henrique received a return pass from Lee Seung-gi to fire his shot high and wide. (Source: AFC)
