The K League 1 Wrap-Up: Daejeon Rise to First, Ulsan Win Again, and Kim Kyung-min Grabs a 90th-Minute Winner | OneFootball

After a more exciting, noteworthy weekend of fixtures, columnist Nathan Sartain returns to discuss all the talking points from round four of K League 1 action.

Heading into round four, Daegu FC and Daejeon Hana Citizen were the top two teams in the division respectively. The former in particular had been a force at home, peppering opposition boxes, scoring good quality goals, and getting the better of opponents that had finished in the Final A portion of the table last season.

But Saturday was Daejeon’s time to shine. After two early goals, the Purples were in full control, and could have scored more going into half-time. And then, aside from conceding to a Bruno Lamas stunner, they were resolute enough to see the game out when down to 10 men, largely limiting the Sky Blues to long-range efforts, and forcing them out wide. Currently top of the table, Daejeon can now take stock of a solid start, and look ahead to an away trip to Jeju SK as another opportunity to cement their early ambitions for a strong season.

On the other hand, Daegu will learn a lot from their first defeat of 2025, now aware they have to work the ball into the box better at times, and can't afford to concede early goals - particularly at home - in the open manner they did. Their next fixture, a home meeting with FC Anyang, is a big chance to show that those points have already been taken on board.

Both FC Seoul and Gangwon FC have been showing some sharp defending in recent weeks. For the capital city side, it hasn’t been a springboard towards victories as of now, but having the lowest xGA tally in the division is a good underlying metric to believe positive results will be on the way at some point, and back-to-back clean sheets at least ensured there wasn't to be any more unwanted defeats for the time being. Still, Kim Gi-dong will hope that he can find ways for his attack to click sooner rather than later, given his team has only scored in one of their four K League 1 matches.

Gangwon, meanwhile, have also enjoyed consecutive clean sheets, and thanks to an excellent counter attack managed a 90th-minute winner against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, with Kim Kyung-min capitalising on Vitor Gabriel's unconventional assist. Their overall defensive display here was really impressive, though, with the Green Warriors largely kept at bay as the Bears maintained their structure confidently. 19-year-old Shin Min-ha didn’t look out of place in his starting role either, and is a composed defender, so hopefully he’ll continue to keep being trusted in the weeks to come.

Next week, these two sides face off against each other, so it’ll be interesting to see which defence gets the better of the other, or if indeed we might be heading for another 0-0.

Gimcheon Back in the Goals

Following a 0-0 draw against Seoul where they were creatively stifled, Gimcheon Sangmu returned to the goals in style this weekend with a 3-1 away victory over FC Anyang. It wasn’t easy for the military side at first, with the Violets on top for the opening 30 minutes, and looking more likely to break what was at the time a 1-1 deadlock. But two goals in two minutes towards the end of the first-half reaffirmed the quality Gimcheon currently have in their ranks, and the second period of the game was full of further chances.

Coming up for Gimcheon before the international break is the unbeaten Gwangju FC, which will kickstart a run of three consecutive home games for the military side as they look to climb the table.

The Other Talking Points

Another comfortable win, and a third consecutive clean-sheet for Ulsan HD has seen them spring into second-place. This week, a Heo Yool brace secured the three points for the Horangi, showing why he’s been entrusted with the job of leading the line for the reigning champions. And, while Jeju SK did threaten once behind, the result never really seemed in doubt. With the way Ulsan are going about their business so far in 2025, could they be looking towards a fourth consecutive league title?

And finally, Jeonbuk still showed some promising signs in their defeat to Gangwon, and need to keep building on them. After all, and as the cliché goes, it’s a long season. Really, there’s enough quality in the team to push up the table, and although back-to-back losses without scoring in K League 1 action (three in all competitions) could be cause for concern, Gus Poyet has already shown he can get his new team to dig deep.

So there we have it for another week. Although it was a shortened gameweek due to Gwangju's clash with Pohang Steelers being postponed, there was plenty to enjoy, and by the same token a lot of movement in the table. With one more round before the international break, it will be interesting to see who manages to call themselves the league leaders going into it.