Suwon beat Ulsan to reach ACL quarters

Suwon Samsung Bluewings advanced to the quarter-finals of the Asian Football Confederation Champions League (ACL) after they overturned a first-leg deficit against fellow South Koreans Ulsan Hyundai FC on Wednesday.

Suwon beat Ulsan 3-0 in the second leg of the all-South Korean ACL round of 16 showdown thanks to a brace from Kim Gun-hee, reports Yonhap news agency.

The latest result gave Suwon a ticket to the last eight on a 3-1 aggregate win over Ulsan. Last week, Suwon fell 0-1 to Ulsan in their opening leg.

The two-time continental champions will now join fellow K League 1 club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to represent South Korea at the ACL quarter-finals. Jeonbuk confirmed their quarter-finals presence on Tuesday after edging Thai side Buriram United.

Suwon almost got the opening goal in the 10th minute at home. Both Waguninho and Kim Gun-hee failed to take a shot from close range following a cross by Lee Ki-je and Dejan Damjanovic's follow up effort was denied by Ulsan goalkeeper Oh Seung-hoon.

Seo Jung-won's side made a breakthrough after Kim Gun-hee started to make his presence felt with superb finishes in the box. He broke the scoreless deadlock for Suwon in the 26th with a header off a Lee Ki-je free kick.

Five minutes later, the 23-year-old forward netted his second goal of the night. Following Damjanovic's cross, he took Waguininho's headed pass on his chest, turned around and unleashed a left-footed strike to make 2-0 for Suwon.

Ulsan, looking for a precious away goal that could lead them to the quarter-finals, replaced Hwang Il-su with Han Seung-gyu to start the second half.

The 2012 ACL champions had an opportunity to cut the deficit to one in the 58th when Richard Windbichler was brought down by Suwon defender Kwak Kwang-seon in the box and earned a penalty kick.

Ulsan forward Mislav Orsic stepped up to take the spot kick, but Suwon goalkeeper Shin Hwa-yong made a brilliant penalty save to keep the two-goal lead.

Ulsan then moved more players upfront in an effort to score a goal, but Suwon's Waguininho quashed their rally by earning his team's third goal with his right foot in second half stoppage time.

--IANS

ajb/bg