Prediction League & Match Report - Game 11 - Forlan puts Kitchee into 7th Heaven as Bluewaves heap more misery on hapless Rangers

A world class piece of skill from Diego Forlan spurred Kitchee onto victory against Rangers on Sunday.  The bottom of the table team had made an encouraging start, and could have taken the lead, but once Forlan had put Kitchee ahead the wheels fell off the cart for Rangers and Kitchee cantered to a 7:0 victory with Lucas (2), Paulinho, Alex (2) and another goal from Forlan completing the rout.  With, closest rivals, Hong Kong Pegasus not playing this weekend Kitchee are now 8 points ahead in the race for the Championship which buys them some breathing space coming into ACL season.

Kitchee had been, somewhat surprisingly, on the back-foot in the opening stages on this game with Rangers having good chances to open the scoring through Lai Lok-yin and Vaz Walter who both hit the post with good opportunities.  With Lucas missing a number of early opportunities, fans of the Bluewaves were wandering whether it would simply be "one of those days". However, then stepped up Forlan.

We'll admit it, ABS weren't impressed with the signing of Forlan and were quite outspoken when his arrival meant the departure of Matt Lam and we've since been quite scathing of his contribution in games. However, on Sunday he showed the difference he can make.  With 38 minutes gone, and with Kitchee struggling to score despite having plenty of chances and possession, Forlan stepped up and, from 30 yards out, hit an absolutely world class free kick that would have given no 'keeper in the world a chance of saving it.  Watching back on video, it was phenomenal how the Uruguayan got the ball to curve in so much from its original starting position and it hit the net in that exact zone where  even those Japanese Robot goalkeepers would have no chance. A real stonker!

Buoyed by this, Kitchee went on to add 2 more goals before half time - both from Lucas. Up until this moment Lucas had struggled, missing a number of chances he would usually expect to score, but to give the Brazilian his dues he took his extremely well, finishing with a first time volley into the right hand side of the goal, and his second came came from a very good run to create himself some shooting space. And with that, Kitchee somehow found themselves 3-0 up at halftime! 

With 60 minutes gone Forlan notched his second goal in Kitchee colours, shooting home from the edge of the area and beating the Rangers keeper at his near post following great work on the wing by Fernando. 4-0 and this was how it stayed until the last ten minutes when substitute Alex Akande added two goals. The first coming after 81 minutes when, youngster and Kitchee debutante, Cheng Chin Lung played an excellent through ball for the Nigerian to poke home. The second was a deflected shot following more good work by Fernando.  Late into injury time, Paulihno added the seventh.

In the end this was a resounding victory for the Bluewaves but their fans may be a little concerned with how profligate they were with some of their finishing early on in the game. Kitchee had 21 shots on target in total, they certainly won't get that many in their Asian Champions League fixtures and so will want to see strikers being more deadly when they do get a chance. 

However, on the plus side, Forlan managed a full match and really showed his class with 2 great goals and some brilliant through-balls. Also, 20 year old, Cheng Dragon made his Kitchee debut following return from his loan spell at Dreams FC. With the youngest player to have appeared in the league this season previously being Li Nga Hoi (23 years old), Kitchee fans will be happy to see another young HK talent on the teamsheet. In all, he looked confident on the ball and will be a good option for Chu with fixture congestion coming up...

How does this effect the prediction league? Well, everyone had Kitchee down to win this - it was just a matter of by how many and who would score first. Whilst seven people correctly predicted a 7-0 scoreline, only two of those managed to also chose Forlan as first scorer - Keith and Ka Ho. Both of them move up the table as a result. However, BIlly Chan is still top coming into the back 9...

Next match is vs Lee Man on Saturday 3rd February at TKO stadium. See you there!!!