Title dreams in tatters after wet draw in Tai Po

Photo by Scoop

 Kitchee looked to carry on the momentum from the 4-0 victory at home to North District. Mingazow remained injured, while Paulo and Fernando returned to the bench for the first time in two months. Cleiton served the first of a two match ban (replaced by Charlie Scott in midfield), and Mikael did not make the matchday squad, later revealed to be injured.

Lineup: Wang; Law, Roberto, Helio (c), Shinichi (Ramic 59); Scott, Lok; Juninho, Jantscher (Lung 89), Igor; Temirov (Russell 90)

Match highlights

Photo by Tony

Both sides struggled early on, with the pitch taking a battering from the weather. Quality chances were limited in the early exchanges. Juninho's cross was played back across by Igor but Tai Po keeper Tse Ka-wing was able to force it out for a corner with Temirov lurking. A defensive mix-up from Roberto, recently booked for a foul on Lucas, presented Luizinho with a golden chance, the Brazilian hitting the bar with a curling effort. Good pressing by Igor allowed him to win the ball back inside Kitchee's half, and the Brazilian ran through acres of space in the Tai Po half, bearing down on goal. Good positioning from Tse Ka-wing forced him wide, but he should have scored, and eventually his weak effort was cleared off the line. A long range freekick from former Kitchee favourite Lucas Silva was spilled onto the bar by Wang Zhenpeng, but the experienced keeper was able to gather the rebound. Wang then bravely came out to deny Lucas Silva again after a slip from Shinichi, taking a blow to the head for his troubles.

Photo by Erikson

A long ball forward from Michel Renner evaded the Kitchee defence, but Lucas could not get on the end of it, and proceeded to dive, with no action from the referee. Biteco's free kick was headed away by Jantscher only as far Lee Ka-ho, whose effort from distance was parried by Wang into the path of Lucas. The Brazilian played in Philip Chan who scored, but the pair were among a number of Tai Po players offside, and so the goal was disallowed. Kitchee thought they had taken the lead after 71 minutes; Jakob Jantscher's corner caused chaos in the area, and Sherzod Temirov nodded in Igor's cross, but VAR again intervened and the scores remained level. As the game headed towards the end Jantscher was denied from outside the box by a flying save from Tse Ka-wing. Renner made a good run in stoppage time, and despite him putting the ball to his right and then running to his left into Roberto, the experienced Kitchee defender was sent off for a second yellow card. As the nine minutes added on progressed, a ball in from Scott was flicked onto the post by substitute Russell. Kitchee appealed for a penalty even later on for handball, but it was not to be and the game ended 0-0, with Kitchee requiring a miracle to defend the title now.

Fan feedback

Photo by Erikson

In a game with a number of fouls, there were no cards from just before half time until the 82nd minute. Roberto's second yellow card was harsh, and the VAR check on the Kitchee goal took far too long. Kitchee could have had a penalty late on as the Tai Po defender moved his arm towards the ball, but this was not given. Both teams had chances to score, with the weather certainly impacting the play in the first half. Wang spilled the wet ball a couple of times, but improved as the game went on, while Kitchee's defence slipped repeatedly, and were lucky Tai Po did not capitalise. 

Photo by Tony

Kitchee's only sub before the 89th minute was Shinichi coming off injured for Ramic around the hour mark. Kitchee's squad depth and tactics have let them down recently; top scorer Mikael was left out through injury, and Cleiton was suspended. When Kitchee needed some inspiration there was no one, although in his short cameo Cheng Chin-lung did make a couple of good runs. Tai Po were also running out of energy late on but we made no tactical effort to go for the win, probably due to lack of options and the perceived drop in quality between the starters and the bench. Our recruitment (or lack thereof) means that we have a small core of players deemed first team quality, with the rest of the squad either only deemed suitable for short cameos (the likes of Cheng Chin-lung and Huang Yang) or have spent the league season riding the bench with no hope of getting first team minutes (Matthew Slattery, Yuen Chun-him and the rest of the U22 players), which has left us extremely limited when either chasing a game or trying to force a winner.

Photo by Tony

Due to injuries to Mingazow and Fernando, Igor Sartori has started the majority of Kitchee's league games, and in his last five starts has one assist and no goals, missing a great chance in this game. He has been a long way from his best, although has been played on the right rather than the left wing, where he won the league and Hong Kong Player of the Year with Tai Po in 2019. Poon Pui-hin has been largely restricted to substitute cameos this season, and while he has not been amazing, it is strange that he was not called upon this weekend, to give Kitchee something else in attack. Jantscher saw a lot of the ball in his attacking midfield role, but is a case of Kitchee putting square pegs in round holes.

Photo by Erikson

Yet again, we dominated possession but could barely get anything done in the final third, largelycrossing aimlessly into short attackers (only Temirov is over 6 feet tall) or hoping for efforts from range from Scott and Jantscher. We did pose a bit of a threat from set pieces, but ultimately to no avail. Recruitment throughout the season has seen us with too many similar attackers, and despite Temirov's work ethic, we have no focal point up front. Kim Shin-wook has been a waste of money who would have offered something different if he was up to the task, but even with Mikael and Cleiton unavailable for this game, the sixth foreign player spot in the matchday squad was given to full back Kurban, highlighting how far away from first team football the Korean striker is. The disjointedness in our attack shows how Dejan covered up the cracks in previous years with his incredible goalscoring ratio. 

What's next

Kitchee travel to Hammer Hill to face HKU23 (3pm, 28th April). We have a 100% record against them, only conceding one goal, and won 6-0 in February. Mingazow (injury), Cleiton and Roberto (both suspended) are already ruled out, with Mikael and Shinichi injury doubts. With the key games remaining, and us playing again the following midweek, this is an opportunity to rotate the squad a bit. The title ambitions are a long shot now, requiring Kitchee to win all remaining games, and hope Lee Man slip up, and will probably require a big win against Lee Man on the final day. Tai Po's point and supposedly easier run-in means that they are also not out of the title race.

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Written by Adam O'Domhnaill