Hong Yun-sang praised for ‘2 consecutive goals’…Kim Ki-dong says he’s “happy with the performance”
“We showed a satisfactory performance.”
Pohang Steelers 텍사스홀덤 head coach Kim Ki-dong praised Hong Yun-sang, who scored a goal for the second consecutive game, for his performance in a 1-1 draw against Gangwon FC in the 28th round of the Hana One Q K League 2023 at Gangneung Sports Complex at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Pohang took an early lead when Hong Yun-sang rattled the net in the 16th minute. The joy was short-lived, however, as the hosts equalized. In the 33rd minute, they conceded to Alibayev’s wonder goal. With the game still tied at 1-1, the hosts made a substitution, but were unable to turn the game around and had to settle for a point.
With the draw, Pohang maintained its upward momentum, extending its unbeaten run to seven matches (W3 D4 L4). They sit second in the standings (13W11D4L-50P) and have closed the gap on leaders Ulsan Hyundai (60P) to 10 points. Pohang will travel to Incheon United next month on Nov. 2.
In his post-match press conference, Kim said, “We didn’t get the win, but I’m satisfied with the preparation and the content of the game,” but added, “We didn’t capitalize on several chances. I was disappointed with our decision-making.” “We’ve been doing a good job so far, and we’re aware of what kind of football they’re trying to play. I think we will continue to get better. We need to work harder in the future.”
Pohang continued to push forward after the first goal, but gave up the equalizer. “We hit the mid-range shot too well,” said Kim. “I think we did a good job defensively and offensively as a whole,” said Kim, who added, “We didn’t concede a goal because of a problem in our defensive organization, but because of our individual abilities.
Hong Yun-sang dazzled with a goal for the second straight game. “It was a quality goal for a young player,” said Kim. “I’ve been watching him from elementary school to middle school to high school, and he’s a friend of my son (Kim) Junho, so I gave him high marks for that,” Kim said.
“He must have gotten a lot of confidence because he started and scored a goal,” he said, adding, “Before today’s game, I told him, ‘When you start, people watch you a lot, so you have to do a good job so they don’t think you got lucky and scored a goal in the last game. I’m happy with the performance,” he said.
Next round Pohang travels to Incheon, a team that has been on a roll lately. It’s a tricky opponent for Pohang. “They’ve been playing well lately without any noise,” said Kim. Mugosa, Hernandez, and Gerso are holding up, so they have a lot of attacking power.” “We’re continuing to play counterattacking soccer, and it’s working well. But they are sticking to the same pattern, so we will prepare well for that.”