Match Report & Prediction League - Game 12 - Fantastic Forlan grabs a hatrick as Kitchee cruise to 5-1 win against Lee Man

A marvelous hatrick from Diego Forlan was enough to help Kitchee claim all three points, coming from behind to beat Lee Man 5-1 last Saturday.  

Kitchee maintained their recent bad habit of allowing their opponents an early (and easy) goal as Lee Man scored with the first opening of the game after just 4 minutes.  Matt Lam, currently on loan form the Bluewaves to the Bumblebees, found Wong Chun-hin with rasping 30 yard cross field ball. Wong put the ball past Wang Zheng Pang and Stefan Pereira tapped into the empty net from only a couple of yards out.

Kitchee didn't let that dampen their spirits too much and had a good chance to equalise just moments later when Vadocz's deep cross found Lucas at the back post. The Brazilian headed back across goal and looked to have beaten the 'keeper only for his effort to be cleared off the line. 

Following up his superb effort in the previous game, Forlan cemented his status as Free-Kick expert by notching another two in this match both from roughly the same distance but each one into opposite corners of the net. The first coming after 21 minutes to bring Kitchee level, following a foul on Jared Lum, and the second in first half stoppage time following a needless push on Li Nga Hoi to give Kitchee a 3-1 lead. Unlike his effort against Rangers these weren't unstoppable but they were far too good for the Lee Man 'keeper.

Sandwiched in between the free kicks, Vadocz had put Kitchee 2-1 after a nice 1-2 with Lucas and some terrible defending from Lee Man - the Hungarian  midfield engine stealing the ball off Ciu Chun-Kit in the box to slip the ball under the advancing Felix Luk. 

After the break, Forlan secured his first hatrick in Hong Kong football (and now sits on five goals from just 3 games) following good play by Lam Zhi Gin.  The often forgotten Lam picked up Lucas' deep ball and pulled the ball back to the Uruguayan who calmly slotted the ball into the far corner.  Kitchee's fifth and final goal came after 77 minutes when Zhi Gin played a lovely ball to Lucas who took a touch and buried the ball into the net, making it 12 goals for the season so far for the Brute from Brazil. 

Kitchee's eyes now turn to the ACL and the upcoming first match of the group stage against Tianjin Quanjian  on February 13th.  Tianjin, who finished 3rd in the Chinese Super League last year, qualified for the ACL after easily dispatching of Philippine side Cerres in the final qualifying game and will represent a much more challenging opponent than any of the teams that Kitchee have to face in the Hong Kong Premier League.  We'll bring you a preview ahead of the game on Tuesday but Kitchee will be hoping that they will be able to spring an upset against a Tianjin side who are yet to start their domestic season and who may be lacking match fitness.

How does this affect the prediction league? Well, no one managed to correctly predict a 5:1 scoreline.  However, Jason and Chris Lau both correctly guessed that Forlan would score first so they take 3 points and move up to 8th and 9th place.  Billy Chan and Yuen Wing Yan still sit in first and second place.