Cheonan City and Hwaseon shared the points in a 1-1 draw during Regular Season round 25 of the K-League 2 on Friday evening. The result leaves the hosts rooted to 14th place while Hwaseon remain fifth in the table.
And here's the thing about the opening exchanges — Cheonan brought on J. Wu in the 21st minute, a substitution that suggested they were already looking for something different. To be fair, the visitors did not respond with urgency of their own.
The match found its shape around the hour mark. A. Toungara ended Cheonan's barren spell with a goal in the 57th minute, and Hwaseon immediately went for the jugular, making three changes in the 59th minute. Jegal Jae-Min, Choi Myung-Hee and Park Kyung-Min all came on in quick succession.
By then the game had opened up. S. Petrov found the net in the 79th minute to level matters, and Cheonan brought on S. Ilyuchenko, Lee Jong-Sung and J. Koo in the 81st and 82nd minutes. They played the second half a man up in spirit, if not in numbers.
The drama was not over. A goal was cancelled by VAR in the 86th minute, an incident that went to review but ultimately counted for nothing. Four yellow cards were shown in the final quarter — Park Chang-Woo, A. Vojnovic, Park Ju-Won and D. Kim all picked up bookings.
Cheonan have now dropped points in three of their last five matches, including losses to both Chonnam Dragons and Suwon Bluewings. Hwaseon's recent run is more mixed — they beat Cheonju 2-1 on their last outing but have drawn twice and lost once in the same window.