Kitchee return to league action with narrow win over Rangers

Article by Adam O'Domhnaill

Team news

Photo by Scoop

Kitchee went into the first league match in two months with something of a defensive crisis. Gerbig's pending move to the Chinese Super League, Helio's suspension and injuries for Shinichi and Fernando meant that our options were limited. This meant a first league appearance for Bosnian Sedin Ramic, whose inclusion meant a reshuffle further forward to meet the local player quota. Juninho made his first league appearance since September, and there was a rare start for Tan Chun-lok in midfield.

Paulo; TC Law, Roberto (c), Russell, Ramic; CL Tan, Scott (Huang Yang 77), Mikael; Juninho (Jantscher 59), Temirov, Mingazow (Poon 85)

Match highlights

Photo by Scoop

Despite this being our away game with Rangers, it took place at Mong Kok. This meant that tickets were cheaper than they would have been for a Kitchee home game. Just over a thousand was poor for this Saturday evening encounter, compared with significantly larger crowds for the Senior Shield final and the Hong Kong-Guangdong Cup.

Ibrahim's pace posed problems for the Kitchee defence early on, and some sloppy defending allowed him to tee up Lau Chi-lok outside the box, who sent a curling effort just over the bar. A trademark longshot from Charlie Scott was tipped over the bar by Ukrainian Oleksii Shliakotin, wearing the kit of former Rangers goalkeeper Leung Hing-kit, before Mikael headed wide from close range. Good work down the right allowed Lau Chi-lok to get a shot off, but last ditch defending from Law and Roberto kept the scores level. As the first half went on, Charlie Scott's corner was met by the head of Tan Chun-lok, who gave Kitchee the lead.

In the second half Lam Hin-ting's run into the box ended with a weak shot straight into the arms of Paulo. A long ball from midfield found Mingazow, whose effort from outside the box was tipped over. A long range freekick was parried by Paulo, and in the resulting pinball, Rangers felt they should have had a penalty for a push. A good run from Jantscher saw the Austrian fouled in the box, but Mikael could not convert the resulting penalty to double our advantage.

Fans feedback

Photo by Scoop

A scrappy win, but keeping a clean sheet with a makeshift defence cannot be looked down upon. Sedin Ramic at left back was immense, and was awarded man of the match. But we were not clinical, unable to score a second goal, and on another day Rangers could have emerged with a draw. Kitchee gave Rangers too many chances, with wayward shooting and some good saves from Paulo keeping the clean sheet intact. Tan Chun-lok made the most of his start with a goal, and his inclusion made the midfield more balanced. But our attack was disjointed, with very little created, and both passing and crossing being lacklustre in the final third. This needs to be improved in the second half of the season.

Gerbig's pending departure to the CSL will leave us short of options at the back, and we hope he wouldn't be allowed to leave without a replacement on the way. The lack of quality local options currently in the league means the replacement would likely be foreign. Therefore, the balance of our team would need to change slightly, as we saw with Tan Chun-lok starting to accommodate Ramic in defence. 

What's next

Photo by Erikson

Kitchee have two games this week. Wednesday sees a must-win Sapling Cup game against North District (8pm, Mong Kok) and Sunday sees us take on Hong Kong U23 (3pm, Mong Kok). Helio will be available after suspension, but we expect Gerbig's move to the Chinese Super League to be confirmed. Shinichi could return from injury, but Fernando is likely to be out for some time.

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