Kitchee put Hoi King to the sword with 8-1 demolition but still need to sharpen-up in some key areas

Kitchee put Hoi King to the sword with 8-1 demolition but still need to sharpen-up in some key areas

Anthony Lam for Angry Boundary Street

Kitchee picked up 3 points in a HKPL fixture for the first time since the opening day of the season with an 8-1 win against, Premier League new boys, Hoi King on Sunday.  Many will hope that this result signals a return to the free scoring Kitchee of last season but there was still some areas of concern for the Bluewave fans.

How did they line up?

Kitchee official instagram

After the Senior Shield quarter final win against Dreams, and anticipating an easier fixture against Hoi King, Alex Chu made five changes to his starting 11.  This was, in part, due to injuries to Nando and Tadic but also due to a number of regulars featuring in the Hong Kong squad for the upcoming EAFF campaign (Huang Yang, Wang ZP, and Dani). 

With this in mind, the Bluewaves lined up with Guo Jianqiao in the goal for the first time this season;  In front of him, the defence was made up of Tong Man (the only Hong Kong Team member started for Kitchee in the match), Bong, and Li Nga Hoi.  Midfield was made up of Vadocz and Nakamura in the centre, with Lo Tze Chun on the right and Fernando on the left.  The front three were, local hero, Lung (coming back from injury), Lucas and Jared – who returned to the side following an urgent medical operation.

The bench was made up of young goalkeeper Wong Tze Chung, Dani, Robert, Huang Yang, Jordi, Matt and Ju. 

The inclusion of a number of young players (such as Lung, Lo Tze, and Hoi) saw the average age of the first 11 drop to 28 – which is good news for fans who are growing a little worried about the advancing years of a number of squad regulars.

For Hoi King, due to the loan arrangement with Kitchee, cannot field either of, prolific striker, Chris or Kim DJ for this game.   However, fellow loanee, Harima Hirokane did start and Swainston and Buddle were on the bench.

How did the match pan out?

The first half of the match can be characterised by Hoi King’s tireless defensive effort.  Kitchee controlled the first half, with possession of over 70%, but Hoi King’s disciplined man-marking prevented the Champions from carving out many clear cut chances and, when those chances did come, Kitchee were guilty of some wasteful finishing.

Lucas was particularly guilty of this missing particularly good opportunities in both the 7^th and 37^th minutes.   We at ABS are big fans of the Brazilian striker but he really does need 5 or 6 chances to score a goal. In matches against the better HK teams or in the AFC/ACL, where he may only have one bite at the cherry, his profligacy could really cost Kitchee dear. 

Kitchee official photo

On a rare Hoi King breakaway, Kitchee Loanee, Tiger Harima had a good chance to spring an upset for the Reds but was unlucky to miss.  As such, the first half ended in a deadlock and Hoi King walked off thinking that they may be able to chalk up their first point of the season.

However, football is a game of two halves and any hope of Hoi King hanging on for a 0-0 was put to bed in the 50^th minute when Kitchee finally broke the deadlock from a corner.   Fernando took the corner short to Lung who then dispatched a pinpoint pass into the near post of the Hoi King goal.  The ball found Lucas who was left with a simple tap-in. 1-0.

After 52 minutes the game was effectively over as Hoi King’s Wong Tze Chun received his second yellow card for bringing down Fernando.  The ref unfortunately had no choice but to send the player for an early shower but it was to make a difficult task even more tricky for the young Hoi King team.  Exploiting the extra space on the pitch, Kitchee went 2-0 up shortly after CC Lung volleyed home from outside of the area following nice work by Fernando and Jared Lum.  

Kitchee official photo

Next came the game’s most controversial moment.  The referee reduced Hoi King to 9 men when he gave a second yellow card to Kim Jin Seo for a shoulder check on Fernando.  This seemed particularly harsh as the challenge itself was innocuous and the decision has been criticised in the HK Media.

Despite finding themselves down to 9 men, Hoi King rallied actually scored the next goal from a counter attack. Lew Wai Yip ran down right flank all the way to the edge of Kitchee’s box before lashing a powerful shot at Guo.   The Kitchee keeper saved the initial shot but only managed to parry the ball away into the path of Hoi King’s Korean striker Bae who finished calmly into the net to reduce the deficit to 2-1.

Immediately after this, Alex Chu replaced Bong with Robert in an attempt to shift up a gear and avoid any embarrassment – you would recall that Kitchee had lead their last 2 league games 2-0 and ended up drawing both 2-2.

The change paid off immediately with Robert setting up Lucas to score after 70 minutes. 3:1.  From here, it was a plain sailing for the Bluewaves with Robert also scoring a hatrick (his first goals for Kitchee) and Jordi and Jared also getting on the scoresheet to see the match finishing 8-1.

Thoughts?

It was fantastic to see Kitchee get back to winning ways and playing with the confidence and swagger of champions again.  The introduction of Robert really changed the game and we look forward to seeing more of him in the future.  However, we do wonder how the game might have panned out if Hoi King hadn’t had been reduced to 9 men.  By the end, their defence, who had worked so diligently and tirelessly for the first 60 minutes, were absolutely exhausted from chasing shadows and this lead to their eventual demolition. 

3 points is 3 points but Kitchee will have to be better against rivals Eastern, Southern and R&F in order to close the gap to first place.  The next match against R&F at home is particularly important with the general feeling being that whoever loses will be out of the title race. 

Next match:

November 21, 2018 against R&F (HK) at Mong Kok Stadium - 8pm Kick off.