Friday night delights as Kitchee win comfortably

Team news

Credits to Erikson

For the last game of the season, Kitchee made four changes from the victory at North District. Law and Russell came into the defence, with Scott returning in midfield and Jantscher replacing Temirov up front, Long term injury absentees Paulo, Juninho and Wookie remained out.

Wang; Law, Gerbig, Russell, Shinichi; Scott (Huang 83), Cleiton (Lok 83), Mikael; Mingazov (Temirov 23), Jantscher (Poon 72), Fernando (c) (Lung 72)

Match highlights

Credits to Erikson

When Kitchee played RCFC in the Senior Shield in November, they were 3-0 up inside eight minutes. This time RCFC held out until the fourteenth minute before conceding, as Fernando opened the scoring with a low freekick from the right hand side, almost identical to his effort last week. Kitchee doubled the scoring soon afterwards, as Gerbig's long ball forward was only partially cleared and Mikael hit a low first time shot from the edge of the box. After good link up play down the left, Shinichi whipped in a beautiful cross from the by-line which was headed in by Temirov, who had recently come on for the injured Mingazov. The Uzbek striker nearly doubled his account minutes later, but after being played in by Charlie Scott he shot wide. RCFC had their first decent effort towards the end of the half; a quick break down Kitchee's left built up to a decent shot which went narrowly wide.

The first clearcut chance of the second half saw Mikael heading Scott's cross straight at the keeper.

Credits to Louis

RCFC's right back then found himself in acres of space, and Wang dived high to his left to keep out his long range effort.. With twenty minutes to go a Kitchee corner was not cleared and Oli Gerbig latched on the loose ball to score his first league goal for the club. RCFC pulled one back as sloppy defending from Kitchee allowed a free header which hit the post, and Kitchee's slow reactions to the rebound allowed RCFC to fire in a consolation. Mikael rounded off the scoring with his second of the game after good work down the right by Poon in the last few minutes. A 5-1 win and fans were left much happier than after the previous Friday night game two weeks ago.

Fans feedback

Credits to Louis

Another game, another goal for Temirov, as the Uzbek striker has shown his aerial dominance with two great headers. He links well with his fellow attackers, and gives Kitchee more of a focal point in the box. Fans had their doubts as he had two goals in thirty five games during his time in Iran, but these last two games have shown the ability he has. If Kitchee can keep attacking players fit, we will challenge for all four domestic trophies.

Credits to Lok

Kitchee again failed to keep a clean sheet, and the goal conceded again came from poor defending. Like against North District, Kitchee failed to deal with a simple cross into the box and were slow to react to the rebounds. RCFC's pressing and counterattacking, although limited, did cause Kitchee problems. Kitchee's centre backs are not the quickest, but playing full backs who are very attacking causes issues at the back, as we have regularly seen against ACL opponents. Shinichi and Law, plus Fernando when he is played more defensively, would be better deployed as wing backs, but the lack of centre back options prevents this. Perhaps now is the time to try and find another centre back option, either from the HKPL or overseas who is a bit younger and more mobile. Damcevski was awful for us and had not played since September, but his departure, combined with Onazi's and Juninho receiving his Hong Kong passport means that Kitchee can use another foreign player in the lineup. 

Credits to Erikson

With the exception of Mingazov's first half injury, Kitchee did not make a change until after seventy minutes, despite being comfortably ahead and having an ACL game on Wednesday (albeit a dead rubber). It would have been nice to see the substitutes used a bit earlier into proceedings, especially Tan Chun Lok, who in the absence of Mikael is quite likely to start, but here only played seven minutes. Perhaps the coaching staff were mindful of the drop off in performance levels after making early subs last weekend, but RCFC are not of the same calibre, so a repeat of last week would have been unlikely.

What's next

Credits to Lok

Kitchee round up a disappointing ACL campaign away to Lion City Sailors of Singapore on Wednesday night. 6pm kick off, with a stream available on Hoy TV channel 76. Mikael and Poon are definitely out with suspension, and Mingazov's injury makes him a major doubt. Juninho and Paulo will almost definitely miss the game as they continue their recovery from injury. Our attacking options are limited through injuries and suspensions, so a draw is probably the best we can hope for.

Lion City Preview

Bailey Wright

Lion City Sailors won the return fixture 2-1, in a game that ended Ogenyi Onazi's Kitchee career and was the first of three successive 2-1 home defeats in the competition. Kitchee were ineffective despite having more possession and shots. Lion City Sailors are also eliminated, so both teams only have pride to play for. Kitchee have a host of players unavailable, and will look to negate the attacking threat of Zivkovic and Lestienne (who both scored in the home game) and Brazilian winger Diego Lopes. Managed by Serbian Aleksandar Rankovic, they also have Australian centre back Bailey Wright in their squad, formerly of Preston North End and Sunderland.

Aleksandar Rankovic

Check out more of Lok's photography here

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