South Korean striker Joo Ik-seong’s hat-trick on Wednesday took him to the top of the Taiwan Premier League scoring chart with 12 goals as Hang Yuan trounced Ming Chuan University 4-0 at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City, keeping the title race a tight affair.
Joo scored from a rebound in the 25th minute and added two goals from penalties after teammates were tripped inside the area. The first spot-kick was early in the game and the second was near the end of regulation time.
Hang Yuan’s creative midfielder Atsushi Shimono of Japan hit a defense-splitting long pass from inside his own half to find Joo at the other end. Joo took a shot that Ming Chuan goalkeeper Meng Fan-yu mishandled, allowing the striker to slot into the net to put his side ahead 2-0.
Photo courtesy of Hang Yuan FC
Defender Fang Li-peng finished off a fast counterattack to fire in their fourth goal.
The result gave Joo 12 goals this season, tied with TSG-Tainan forward Marc Fenelus from the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Joo credited his teammates for the hat-trick.
“The goals came from teamwork to create opportunities,” he said. “It’s always a great feeling to score, but getting a win is more important, and I want to contribute for our team to have more victories in the coming matches.”
In the other midweek match, Taichung Futuro prevailed 2-1 over Taipei Leopard Cat in Taoyuan.
The three points for Futuro returned them to first place on the table.
Futuro took a 2-0 lead at the break after Haitian striker Benchy Estama drew a penalty for a tackle inside the area and made no mistake.
Estama supplied a pass for Taiwan international Chen Hao-wei to score in 39th minute.
Ten minutes after halftime, Leopard Cat halved the lead when Burkinabe forward Ben Ouedraogo took a shot that eluded Futuro goalkeeper Pan Wen-chieh for Wei Pei-lun to tap home.
The top of the table has three teams within two points of each other. Futuro are first on 27 points, with Hang Yuan and Taipower on 25. Defending champions TSG-Tainan have 20, although they have a game in hand.
On Sunday, Taipower picked up three points with a 2-1 triumph over AC Taipei to temporarily take first place.
Taipower took the lead from a close-range shot by midfielder Hung Tzu-kuei with 13 minutes gone.
Uzbek striker Vladislav Nuriev leveled for AC Taipei in the second half when he knocked in a header from a corner on the hour mark.
Taipower forward Ko Yu-ting conjured up a magical moment as the clock wound down.
From a corner on the right, Ko’s left-foot kick curled wickedly to sneak inside the far post.
“It also surprised me,” Ko told reporters. “I have scored directly from a corner before, but cannot remember when, as it was many years ago. Still, I am happy to get my first goal this season.”
“I hit it high so it would be tough for the goalkeeper to handle, but it was a surprise that the ball curved so much,” he said.
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