Gwangju FC head coach Lee Jung-hyo (48) confessed that he watched the game with nervousness before he became the coach.
Gwangju broke their winless streak with a 2-0 victory over Suwon FC in the 15th round of the Hana OneQ K League 1 2023 at Suwon Sports Complex on the 28th.
Gwangju, who hadn’t won in seven league games with three draws and four defeats before the match, took all three points thanks to goals from Timo and Asani.스포츠토토
Timo scored his K League debut in the 30th minute when he headed home Ahn Young-gyu’s cross. Buoyed by the momentum, Gwangju was fortunate to add a second goal in the 38th minute when Asani’s mid-range shot deflected off the foot of Suwon FC defender Jackson.
Gwangju improved to 18 points (5W3D7L) and moved up to eighth place in the league, above arch-rivals Suwon FC.
“Today, we controlled the game well from the start and it was going the way we wanted it to go, but when the goal didn’t come, I was dizzy and almost fell down,” Lee told the press conference.
“As usual, the Gwangju fans travelled to the away side in bad weather, but fortunately, the players scored a goal in the second half,” he said, adding, “I think we have repaid the fans for their apologies so far, so I am satisfied as a coach.”
“I can’t be satisfied with the result, but we won after eight games and before the end of May,” he said. “We got three points in a tough away game, so I want to say well done to the players.”
Gwangju, who were promoted to the K League One ahead of the 2023 season, have faltered of late but burst onto the scene with some impressive football at the start of the season, winning three and losing two of their opening five games.
“Now that we have our first win in May, we will slowly try to reduce the gap between the players who play a lot and those who don’t play a lot in terms of what we can do well,” he said.
Finally, when asked about the status of goalkeeper Kim Kyung-min, who was substituted in the second half after grabbing his ankle and limping off the field, he explained, “He said he didn’t feel good in his Achilles’ tendon, so we substituted him.”
“We train hard, and if we want to take a break, we can always tell the staff and they will give us a break. Thanks to this, the players have a sense of responsibility and come back and work harder.”