Jeonnam Dragons denied Busan I-Park an early K League 2 (2nd Division) title.
Jeonnam won 3-0 at home against Busan in the 38th round of the Hana OneQ K League 2 2023 at Gwangyang Stadium on Wednesday, led by a multi-goal performance from Park Tae-yong. With 53 points, Jeonnam closed the gap on fifth-place Bucheon FC 1995 (54 points), the last team to qualify for the promotion playoffs (PO), to one point. The two teams will face off in the final 39th round on April 26.
On the other hand, Busan, who could have clinched the K League 2 title and direct promotion to the first division with a win today regardless of the outcome of the final match, remained in the lead with 69 points. They are one point behind second-place Gimcheon Commerce (68 points).
Busan and Gimcheon will play their final games at home against Chungbuk Cheongju and Seoul Eland, respectively.
Jeonnam pushed Busan hard, centered on foreign attacking midfielder Valdivia. Eventually, in the 11th minute of the first half, 22-year-old rookie Park Tae-yong connected with a header off a cross from Im Chan-ul, his K League debut goal.
With momentum on his side, Park Tae-yong struck again five minutes later, this time taking a pass from Im Chan-ul and flying past the Busan defense.
Jeonnam did not allow Busan to catch up in the second half. Rather, they sealed the three-goal victory in stoppage time when Kim Sang-wook, assisted by Plana, curled a right-footed kick into the Busan goal.
At the Ansan Wah~ Stadium, visiting FC Anyang earned a 3-2 win over the Ansan Greeners thanks to a late Bruno strike in stoppage time. Anyang moved into seventh place with 51 points. Anyang can still finish fifth and qualify for the promotion PO if they beat their final 사설토토 opponent, Cheonan City FC. Meanwhile, Ansan, which has lost four straight games, remains in 13th place with 22 points.
At Cheonan Stadium, home team Cheonan played out a goalless draw against Gimpo FC, who secured their promotion to the PO after a 10-man battle. Gimpo remained in third place with 60 points, while Cheonan remained in 12th place with 25 points.