Kitchee’s 31 game unbeaten Hong Kong Premier League record is wrecked by R&F (HK) on a torrid night at Mong Kok Stadium

Kitchee’s 31 game unbeaten Hong Kong Premier League record is wrecked by R&F (HK) on a torrid night at Mong Kok Stadium 

Anthony Lam and Charlie Markillie for Angry Boundary Street

57,819,600 Seconds. 963,660 Minutes. 669 Days. 31 Hong Kong Premier League games. This how long it had been since Kitchee last lost a Hong Kong Premier League fixture.  However, Kitchee’s HKPL unbeaten record came to a spectacular end on Wednesday with a 3-1 home reversal against R&F (HK).  

Kitchee hadn’t lost a Hong Kong premier league match since 21^st January 2017, when they lost 1-0 away to Southern in Aberdeen (you have to go back even further to find the last home league match they lost – 24/1/2015 vs Eastern), and since then they have won 2 premier league titles and a number of other trophies. However, the Bluewaves looked someway short of potential league champions on Wednesday night as 3 set-piece goals were enough to hand R&F (HK) the win and see them leapfrog above Kitchee into 3^rd place. 

The defeat, which was actually Kitchee’s first of the season, sees the reigning champions drop to 5^th in the league with only 9 points from 6 games, after winning only 1 of the their last 5 league matches. 

How did they line up?

Following a number of the Kitchee team members being involved with the national team during their heroic EAFF campaign in Taiwan, Kitchee’s Alex Chu made three changes to his starting 11 – leaving out Huang Yang following his exploits in Taiwan, Nando due to injury and Jordi. 

With this in mind, the Bluewaves lined up with Wang ZP in goal;  In front of him, the defence was made up of Tong Man, Bong (despite carrying an injury), Li Nga Hoi and Dani.  The inclusion of Dani was particularly surprising given that he played the full 270 mins for the Hong Kong National Team during international break but the injury to Nando meant that Chu was left with very little alternative. 

Midfield was made up of Vadocz, Matt Lam and Jared Lum.  The front three were, Fernando (captain), Lucas and Nakamura. 

On the bench were goalkeeper Guo, Tadic, Robert, Huang Yang, Jordi, Lo Tze and Ju.  

The visit of R&F (HK), saw the return of some ex-Kitchee favourites with long serving captain, Lo KY, and Lam Zhi Gin in the starting 11 and veteran goal-scorer Paulinho on the bench.  

How did the match pan out?

The first half was evenly matched with neither team able to really stamp its authority on the match.  The first 20 minutes passed with plenty of fouls but few chances.  However, after 24 minutes R&F (HK) opened the scoring from one of those many free kicks. Ita sent a deep long cross into Kitchee’s penalty box and the ball was met by a sliding Jacky Leung (Sai Lo)  who was able to direct the ball into the right lower corner of Wang ZP’s goal. 1-0 R&F (HK).  

Kitchee were immediately stirred into life and found themselves level just 6 minutes later.  Captain, Fernando crossed the ball to Lucas who picked up the ball on the edge of the six yard box before bending in a tight angle shot that beat R&F (HK)’s U23 China National Team keeper.  It was a fantastic finish by the Brazilian, much to the delight of the Bluewaves fans. 

A minute later and Lucas was at it again.  This time with a fantastic bicycle kick from out of nowhere. However, the striker was unlucky to see his effort go just wide.  This was the last goal mouth action in the first half which then really turned into a midfield battle with both teams earning further bookings (at Half time, Kitchee had had 1 player booked with R&F (HK) earning 3).  

The competitive nature of the game continued in the second half with plenty of fouls and elbows flying everywhere.  Ita was spared a card when he elbowed Matt Lam and likewise Tong Man was lucky not to enter the book for a late tackle right on Lam Zhi Gin.  

Next up it was Dani’s turn to use his elbow. This time taking aim at ex-team mate Lo KY. This was penalised by the ref and resulted in a free kick right outside the area and a yellow card for Dani. Ita stepped up and sent a curling drop shot just over the wall to the bottom left hand corner of Wang ZP’s goal.  Wang managed to lay his hand on it but was unable to stop it from nestling in the back of the net. 2-1 R&F (HK) – however, Wang should feel that he could have done better. 

Finding themselves behind, the Kitchee faithful began to call for Alex Chu to make some changes – this finally came after 67 mins with the introduction of Jordi for Nakamura.  Following the change, Kitchee looked to move up a gear as they sought an equaliser. This left them increasingly exposed at the back and R&F looked to sneak an all decisive third goal on the break.  This nearly came when Leonko broke but saw his effort come back off the post.

However, the third goal did come not long after.  With 74 minutes on the clock, Fernando went to play a long back pass to Wang ZP but accidentally put the ball out of play, gifting a corner to R&F (HK).  Ita took the corner and found Jacky Leung (SaiLo) who headed into the  lower right corner of Kitchee’s goal.  3-1 R&F (HK). 

3-1 down and chasing the game, Kitchee fans were calling out for Chu to make another change. However, it took 10 minutes for the coach to introduce Robert (hatrick hero from the Hoi King game) as a replacement for Bong.  This resulted in a new impetus as the Brazilian drove the Bluewaves forward.  This culminated in Vadocz having a shot blocked by Lo KY right on the line.   This was the last clear chance for Kitchee who then toiled trying to find a way through as R&F (HK) ran down the clock. 

Thoughts?

For a team of Kitchee’s quality to lose 3 goals from set pieces in the HKPL situation is unacceptable.  Chu should have been aware that R&F (HK) were strong at set pieces and yet still did not deploy man-marking for their target men.  Indeed, it seems that it was R&F that did their homework knowing that Kitchee were weak at set pieces and this was where they had the best chance of  scoring.

The game saw a number of key players, especially the midfield, not living up to their usual high standards and it seemed that it was left to Fernando and Lucas to try and get something from the game.  However, despite this, Alex Chu seemed reluctant to make any changes or deploy any of the substitutes he had at his disposal. 

One constant criticism is that Chu really doesn't have a Plan B.  Opponents seem to have worked out Kitchee’s style of play and are now prepared to sit back and wait rather than letting Kitchee hitting them on the break.  Add on top of this that a number of the key players who had helped deploy that game plan so well in the past have now left and we can start to see why we are struggling.  

Hopefully we can improve with the game against Pegasus on Friday. If we don’t then our chances of doing anything in the league this season must surely be over.