Kitchee lift Senior Shield for 7th time following hard fought victory over Tai Po

Kitchee lift Senior Shield for 7th time following hard fought victory over Tai Po

Kitchee lifted the Senior Shield for the 7^th time in their history, and for the 2^nd time in three years, following a hard fought 3-2 victory over Wofoo Tai Po on Saturday.

Strikes from Matt Smith, Fernando and an own goal by Tai Po’s Fung Hing-Wa were enough to ensure Kitchee lifted the trophy but the Bluewaves didn’t have it all their own way with Tai Po pegging them back twice with goals of their own from Chan Kwan and Michelle Lugo.

How did they Line up? 

Following the positive 3-0 victory in their last game against Lee Man, Alex Chu named an unchanged side other than Matt Lam coming in for the injured Huang Yang.  Lam did excellently in the 60 minutes he played against Lee Man and so fans were excited to see him getting the opportunity again in the final. 

This meant that WZ Pang was in goal, with Dani Cancela and Law Tsz Chun as full backs. Helio and Matt Smith continued to forge a new partnership at centre back.

In midfield, Matt Lam lined up alongside both Krisztian Vadocz and Jared Lum.  Up front we had Fernando, deputising as captain today in Huang Yang's absence, top scorer Lucas and Ju Yingzhi.

On the bench were Clement Bebhaddouche, looking to make his second appearance for the club, veteran striker Jordi Tarres, Tong Kin Man, Fernando Recio, Cheng Chin Lung, Guo Jianqiao and new signing Seo Sang-Min.

How did the match pan out?

Scoop Lee Photography

Kitchee were second best for much of the early stages of the game as Tai Po started much more brightly with both Harrison Sawyer and Igor Sartori drawing good saves out of Wang Zheng Peng early on. 

However, it was Kitchee that went ahead after 16 minutes following Jared Lum’s corner. Lum swung the ball in towards the back post, finding Matt Lam who headed the ball down towards the penalty spot. After a bit of penalty area Ping-Pong the ball eventually fell at the feet of Matt Smith.  When the ball eventually fell at his feet, the Australian centre back made no mistakes, smashing the ball home from 7 yards to give Kitchee the lead. 1:0.

However, the 1:0 lead didn’t last long as the Super Green’s equalized just 10 minutes later following a mix up in the Kitchee penalty area.  Lee Ka-Ho put in a cross aiming for the 6ft5inch Harrison Sawyer. Sawyer missed the ball but did enough to take out Law Tsz Chun and cause confusion between WZ Pang and the remaining Kitchee defenders, meaning that when the ball eventually found Chan Siu-Kwan at the back post he had a relatively simple job to ram the ball home past Wang, who was only just getting back on to his feet.  1:1.

Shortly after, Kitchee were rocked when Australian talisman and frequent scorer of cup final goals, Jared Lum, needed to leave the field following a freak but nasty head/eye injury.  Interestingly, despite the fact that Jared was playing right midfield/wing, Alex Chu decided against bringing on attacking midfielders Chen Chin Lung, Jordi or new signing Seo Sang-Min, and instead brought on defender Clement Benhadouche.  Benhadouche fared reasonably well, putting in some nice crosses but struggled to provide the attacking impetus that Kitchee needed and so it wasn’t overly surprisingly when he was then replaced after 60 minutes by Jordi – strange indeed.

Scoop Lee Photography

Anyway, Kitchee managed to get themselves back in front deep into first half injury time.  Following a foul on Lucas, Fernando stepped up to take the resulting free kick and put the ball over the wall and into the far side of the net.  Tsang Man Fai, the Tai Po ‘keeper, clearly expected the Brazilian to aim for the near post and, with his sight blocked by the wall, took 2 steps to the right at the last moment.  Left left wrong footed he was unable to change his positioning in time to keep the ball out. It was a good free kick but one that most goalies would have hoped to save, especially in a cup final. 2:1 and half time.

Leo Photo Story

After half time, Tai Po came out all guns blazing and had a Michelle Lugo goal ruled out for a foul after the restart.  However, they didn’t have to wait long to be on equal terms once again.  After 57 minutes, Aussie Sawyer, played the ball through to Igor Sartori on the left flank. Igor advanced into the Kitchee area and reached the byline before pulling the ball back towards the penalty spot.  The cut back found Lugo unmarked who duly smashed the ball home. A player of Lugo’s class doesn’t miss such chances and it was quite criminal that the Kitchee defence failed to pick him up. 2:2.  

The Super Greens nearly went ahead just a few minutes later when Sawyer had chance to move from provider to scorer but fired just wide from inside the box. The fifth and decisive goal finally came after 78 minutes and, to the delight of the blue side of the Hong Kong stadium, it was Kitchee that got it.  Again, the goal came from a free kick and again it was a mistake from Tai Po/bad luck that caused the goal. Ju Yingzhi delivered cross into the area and Tai Po’s Fung Hing-wa stretched to try and clear the ball but accidentally put the ball past his own ‘keeper into the back of his own net. It was a good free kick but wasn't exactly rifled in at speed so should have been cleared. However, we'll take it! 3:2

With ten minutes left, Tai Po started laying siege to the Kitchee goal but the Bluewaves managed to stand firm and hold on for a famous victory.

Thoughts?

A super entertaining cup final and one that we are delighted to say Kitchee came out on the winning side of. Kitchee made it harder work than it should have been some defensive mix-ups but this backline is still learning how to play together and will improve with time.

Kitchee fans will hope that the spirited performance and victory will provide the team with renewed belief and impetus ahead of the second half of the season as they look to close the 2 point gap at the top of the table and retain their Hong Kong Premier League title.

Nicholas Kung Photography