Different competitions, different stadiums, same outcome- HKFC double header

Temirov- photo by Scoop

Kitchee kicked off March with a 3-1 win away at Hong Kong Football Club. Fernando and Shinichi Chan continued to be out with injury, and there was a rare start in goal for Wang Zhenpeng in the absence of Paulo. Mikael opened the scoring from the penalty spot after a lengthy VAR check. HKFC hit back straight away, Dominic Johns breaking free down the right and crossing for Leo to level the scores. Kitchee continued to struggle with Johns' pace, and HKFC had a great chance to take a shock lead. On the verge of half time, Charlie Scott's long ball forward was met by the head of Mingazow on the run, to give Kitchee the lead. Kitchee extended their lead halfway through the half, with Juninho finishing off a lovely team move down the right. 3-1 win, with better performances needed as the season goes on.

Mingazow- photo by Scoop

After a six day turnaround, we took on the same opponents, this time in the FA Cup at Mong Kok Stadium. Fernando remained out, with Jantscher and Paulo joining him on the injury list, and Russell was suspended. Kitchee took the lead early on, with Roberto heading in from a corner for his first goal in over a year. Kitchee were dominant in the early exchanges, but HKFC created a couple of decent chances as the half went on. The second half saw Kitchee continue to dominate, but the second goal did not arrive until the last ten minutes, with an acrobatic effort from Temirov making the game safe. Shinichi Chan had a fifteen minute cameo off the bench, after nearly two months out with a hamstring strain. Not the greatest performance, but it got the job done and sets up a semi-final clash with Eastern.

Mingazow- photo by Scoop

Kitchee had seven players called up to Jorn Andersen's preliminary Hong Kong squad for the double header qualifiers against Uzbekistan. Paulo Cesar returned to the squad after missing the Asian Cup, but he has missed Kitchee's last three games through injury. Tan Chun-lok, Helio, Law Tsz-chun, Shinichi Chan, Poon Pui-hin and Juninho will all be hoping to make the final squad, and help Hong Kong attempt to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The home game takes place on March 21st, at Mong Kok, and is already sold out.

Russell- photo by Scoop

Next up for Kitchee we are away at Sham Shui Po on the 17th (3pm), before facing Lee Man in the Sapling Cup during the international break (24th March, 3pm). A win against Lee Man takes us through as group winners, with any other result seeing us eliminated. We round off the month with an league game away to RCFC in Tsing Yi on the 30th March (6pm).

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