Pohang had the lion share of ball possession in the early stages of the first half but it was Frontale who went close to opening the scoring.

Brazilian winger Marcinho showed perseverance in keeping the ball in play in the 19th minute and tried to feed Shin Yamada in the middle, only for the Japanese forward to mistime his attempt with the ball rolling harmlessly into the grasp of Hwang In-Jae.

The away side came close again with nine minutes of the half left to play when Marcinho produced one of his trademark runs from the left, however, his curling effort just didn’t have enough bend to trouble Hwang. 

Frontale were not to be denied in the 38th minute, thanks to a Yamada header in the middle of the box, with the forward connecting firmly to Tatsuya Ito’s cross to give the Japanese side the lead.

Matters got worse for Pohang in the 43rd minute when Jonathan Aspropotamitis was shown the red card after collecting his second caution for a foul on Yamada.

Pohang head coach Park Tae-ha altered his side for the second half with the introduction of Lee Ho-Jae and Lee Dong-hee before An Jae-jun also joined the fray in the 56th minute, as the home side fashioned their first real chance when Oberdan smashed a shot just wide nine minutes later.

The home side’s hopes of a comeback were crushed in the 70th minute after Asahi Sakaki won a tussle with Wanderson before finding Yamada in the box, who in turn set up Yasuto Wakizaka (pictured below, right) to slot home Frontale’s second.

So Kawahara added gloss to Frontale’s win four minutes later when he surged ahead of his marker to guide home Yuki Yamamoto’s cross before Erison nodded in a fourth in the 88th minute to seal their fifth win of the campaign.

Frontale conclude their League Stage campaign by hosting Australia’s Central Coast Mariners while Pohang have a tricky away tie against Johor Darul Ta’zim of Malaysia, both matches to be played in a week’s time.