A tale of two halves up north as complacent Kitchee hold on to win

Article by Adam O'Domhnaill

Team news

Photo by Tony

Kitchee made five changes from Wednesday nights home defeat in the ACL. There was a rare start in midfield for club captain Huang Yang, who joined Gerbig, Roberto, Fernando and Temirov in being recalled to the starting lineup. Kitchee opted to start with four foreign players, with Igor and Jantscher on the bench. Paulo, Juninho and Kim remained absent through injury. 

Wang; Roberto (Law 75), Gerbig, Helio, Shinichi; Huang (c) (Igor 75), Cleiton; Mingazow (Poon 61), Mikael (Lok 61), Fernando (Lung 61); Temirov

Match highlights

Photo by Tony

Nearly four months into the season, North District finally had a competitive home game, and there was solid support from both teams in Sheung Shui. From a Kitchee corner Mikael went close with a header, before Fernando scored a quality driven freekick. Temirov then scored his first Kitchee goal, heading in Fernando's cross at the near post and doubling Kitchee's lead after barely fifteen minutes. In his excitement at scoring he blasted the ball straight at a photographer. North District were then awarded a penalty after Shinichi was slightly too forceful at a freekick, but Wang dived low to his right to keep the Kitchee clean sheet intact. Kitchee's third goal arrived just before half time, as Mikael charged down the goalkeeper's clearance. 3-0 at half time, and surely game over. 

Photo by Lok

Kitchee thought they had a fourth through Helio's header early in the second half, but it was ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper. North District started to come into the game in the last fiften minutes, pulling a goal back as Law misjudged a long ball over the top, sparking jubilant scenes in the home end. They got a second back a few minutes later as Kitchee failed to deal with a corner. Kitchee held out through the eight minutes of stoppage time to come away with the win.

Fans feedback

Photo by Lok

A win is a win, but it was not a great second half performance. Kitchee had a dominant first half, but allowed the opposition to get back into the game, two sloppy goals almost throwing it all away. A three goal first half could and probably should have been more.

As the game looked dead and buried, Kitchee made a triple substitution on the hour mark, giving league minutes to local players who have struggled for gametime this season. The attack faltered with their introduction, and Law was at fault for North District's first goal. Squad rotation is key in a long season, but there is a clear drop off in quality from Kitchee's first team, especially up front.

New signing Sherzod Temirov had a much more convincing second start for Kitchee, opening his account for the club. He connected a lot more with other attackers in the first half, and although not the quickest player he is able to get himself in the right areas to link the play. Time will tell if he is the long term striking solution.

What's next for Kitchee

Photo by Lok

Another Friday night game under the lights. This time RCFC are the visitors on the 8th December at 8pm, at Mong Kok. Hopefully it will be a more productive and clinical game than the Southern clash, and we can emerge with a win in our final league game until February, as Hong Kong's elite will head off to the Asia Cup at the end of December. 

Check out more of Lok's photography here

Keep up with us on Instagram and Facebook