Seongnam Ilhwa have heaped more misery on the Central Coast Mariners with a 5-0 thumping in their AFC Champions League clash.
Seongnam Ilhwa have heaped more misery on the Central Coast Mariners with a 5-0 thumping in their AFC Champions League clash.
The Koreans dominated for most of the night and took a deserved two-goal advantage into half-time after goals from Lee Chang-Hoon and Brazilian Everton Santos at the Seongnam Tancheon Sports Complex.
The points were sealed midway through the second half following a cracking strike from captain Kim Sung-Hwan before an Everton Santos penalty and Vladimir Jovancic strike rounded off the scoring.
The loss caps off a miserable week for the Mariners following their Hyundai A-League finals exit on penalties to Perth Glory on Saturday.
The Mariners were on the back foot early with Lin Jong-Eun blasting a shot over the bar following a corner just three minutes in.
Mustafa Amini had an early strike from just outside the area, but his shot didn’t lack enough power to trouble Ha Kang-Jin in the Seongnam goal.
The hosts had a glorious chance to break the deadlock eight minutes in but Everton Santos’ cross to Lee Chang-Hoon was fortuitously cleared by Mariners debutant Trent McClenahan with the goals open.
A moment of brilliance from Adam Kwasnik almost gave the Mariners a surprise lead, but his left-footed volley went agonisingly wide after he superbly took control of a Michael McGlinchy cross.
The opening goal came after Kim Sung-Hwan capitalised on a loose ball in the middle park following a sloppy pass from Oliver Bozanic.
Kim collected the ball and passed forward to Brazilian Heverton, who cut inside before laying off to Lee who calmly finished past Matt Ryan into the bottom corner in the 39th minute.
Four minutes later and the hosts went 2-0 up with Everton Santos expertly finishing on the volley following a header from strike partner Vladimir Jovancic.
The Mariners pushed hard for a way back into the game but failed to create any meaningful chances, while Seongnam always looked a threat going forward.
After Jovancic and Everton Santos both spurned chances to add a third, Kim Sung-Hwan finally made the points safe with the goal of the night.
Kim fired an unstoppable volley from close to the touch line after being superbly played in by
Heverton.
Seongnam weren’t done with yet though and Everton Santos added a fourth from the penalty spot after Alex Wilkinson and McClenahan brought down Kim Seong-Jun in the penalty box.
Substitutes Bernie Ibini and Troy Hearfield both had good chances for a consolation goal, but it wasn’t to be with Jovancic finally getting on the scoreboard after a brilliant run from Everton Santos left the Serbian with an empty net to finish into.
The loss leaves the Mariners in last place in Group G with three points, equal with Tianjin Teda, who they host on May 1.
Seongnam and Nagoya head the group with six points each.
Seongnam 5 (Lee 39, Everton Santos 43, 73pen, Kim 69, Jovancic 83)
Central Coast 0
