“Obviously very happy. We understood the importance of tonight’s result so we focused hard on the game. I thought it was an exciting game when it was 11v11, two teams trying to win. After that it became very difficult for us to play our normal game but (I am) very pleased,” said Muscat, the first Australian to win league titles in Australia, Japan and China PR. 

“The number of players we had unavailable today because of injuries and suspensions, of course it does have an impact on the team but credit to the players who are here.”

Muscat’s side looked to be cruising to victory after taking a 2-0 lead thanks to a Matias Vargas brace but Ulsan HD were offered a lifeline following Li Ang’s sending off. 

The numerical advantage led to the side from Korea Republic scoring their first goal of the competition through Joo Min-kyu but a thunderbolt from Vargas in the 83rd minute settled the contest as Shanghai Port moved up to seven points. 

“After we went down to 10 men, unfortunately we had to retreat a little bit. Not only the energy level that we have to take into consideration but also the busy schedule we’ve had until this point.

"Emotional and physical energy was difficult but we showed real character to overcome the challenge,” said Muscat, whose side play another Korea Republic team, Gwangju FC, at home next week. 

While Ulsan HD finally found their first goal in five matches, there was no cheer as they suffered a fifth consecutive defeat which surely ended their knockout stage hopes, with head coach Kim Pan-gon again apologising to their fans. 

“Today’s match is our last one at home and I feel very sorry for the fans. The beginning of the match was very positive but we kept making mistakes. We conceded and despite having a numerical advantage, we couldn’t capitalise.

“Ulsan have always shown good performance in this competition but this year we haven’t. Previously it can be said that we focused more on the (domestic) league but we have completed that so this time we were able to put more focus into this match,” said Kim.

“However, we had some injuries to contend with and the Chinese team came into the game having played in a Cup final. We had to show better quality but just couldn’t convert when we were on top.”

The tactician said the only option for Ulsan is to keep pushing. 

“The fans have expectations and so do the team. We have to regroup and reorganise and see what we can do in the remaining games.”

Ulsan face China PR’s Shanghai Shenhua FC next week but ahead of that, they can complete the domestic double by beating Pohang Steelers FC in the Korean FA Cup final on Saturday.