憤怒界限街 [angry boundary street]: Kitchee back on track with emphatic victory- Kitchee 8 Rangers 0

Kitchee got their first win of the season with a dominant display at home to Rangers, with new signings Luis Machado and Welthon both scoring twice. Juninho continued his fine form, and Mingazow and Poon both scored to end long goalscoring droughts. Sherzod Temirov was also amongst the scorers for the second time this season.

Team news

Credits to Scoop

Helio and Kim Shin-wook continued to be long term absentees. Kitchee youngsters Tuscany Shek, Matthew Slattery and Tom Yeung all travelled to Qatar with Hong Kong U20s and will be unavailable for the next few games, while Sohgo Ichikawa moved to Southern on loan during the week. Kitchee made five changes from last week's draw, with Talley, Law, Haddow, Lam and Juninho coming into the starting lineup, with Bae Jae-woo and Bardanca dropping out of the matchday squad. Chen Ngo-hin came on at half time for his Kitchee league debut; the winger spent the previous two seasons on loan at Southern, making twenty seven league appearances.

Credits to Issac

Talley; Law (c), Haddow, Jones (Poon 66), Lam; Lok (Ngan 46), Juninho, Rey; Machado (Chen 46), Welthon (Temirov 63), Mingazow (Fernando 63)

Unused substitutes: Wang, Lung, Buddle, Jason Kam

Match highlights

Credits to Scoop

On a very wet evening at Mong Kok Stadium, the opening chance fell to Rangers. But Lau Chi-lok,fresh off a hat trick last weekend, failed to get his free header on target. New signing Welthon took advantage of the space in midfield to ping a lovely ball out to Machado down the right, and the winger cut the ball back for Juninho, who took a touch and curled a lovely effort into the top corner. Then Juninho crossed in from the right hand side, and Mingazow cut it back for Machado to score his first Kitchee goal from close range. Mingazow capitalised on poor defending to break free and play in Machado, whose initial effort was blocked but the rebound hit him and went in.

Credits to Scoop

Kitchee's fourth goal came about as a result of more high quality attacking; Machado's ball in was played back across for Welthon to score his first Kitchee goal, after seeing his effort last week harshly ruled out. At 4-0 and with five minutes of the half remaining, Rangers subbed off their left back, who had been given a torrid time by the constant running of Machado. Welthon almost made it five, but Rangers' goalkeeper was able to tip his header over the bar. Half time 4-0, and Kitchee were cruising.

Credits to Tommy

Half time saw Kitchee make two subs, with an eye on Wednesday's fixture against Kowloon City. Tan Chun-lok and two goal Luis Machado made way, being replaced by Ngan Cheuk-pan and Chen Ngo-hin, the latter making his league debut for Kitchee. After an excellent first half, Mingazow was rewarded with a goal, caressing it past the keeper after being slipped in by Aaron Rey. Mingazow then turned provider two minutes later, playing in Welthon who doubled his tally. Both were withdrawn shortly afterwards, but not before Welthon was agonisingly close to a hat trick; his heavy touch forcing him wide after another Aaron Rey through ball.

Credits to Tommy

As the game came towards a close Kitchee still looked for more; heavy pressing from Rey saw a poorpass back from Rangers which substitute Temirov latched upon and drove forward, and with the goalkeeper stranded he took his time and scored from the edge of the box. Poon Pui-hin rounded off the scoring in the dying moments, placing a lovely first time shot from outside the box, after another lovely ball through from Rey. 8-0 and after two disappointing draws, the fans were more than happy.

Fan feedback

Credits to Kitchee

A dominant win and a clean sheet, and a big improvement. While there were signs of the attacking potential in the opening weeks, Kitchee finally came together and tore Rangers apart, taking advantage of them being far too open. Machado and Welthon both opened their Kitchee accounts, and Mingazow had his best game for months, with a goal (his first since March) and multiple assists. In midfield, Aaron Rey and Juninho posed more questions for the Rangers side, gliding forward at will to set up attacks.

Credits to Kitchee

In defence, Kitchee were able to comfortably play out from the back, exploiting the massive spaces left open, and we were able to see the preseason centre back combination of Jay Haddow and Leon Jones in action in the league for the first time. With the result secured Kitchee could afford to rest key players, and both Temirov and Poon scored. For Poon, he has had a tough time of late for Kitchee and Hong Kong, and fans were pleased he was able to score his first Kitchee goal in nearly a year, having missed a good chance minutes before.

Credits to Issac

Fans are hopeful this kickstarts Kitchee's season, with two (hopefully) straightforward home gamesnext up. The eleven Kitchee put out yesterday seems to be the most balanced and should be the same moving forward for most of the season. But rotation of the squad is always good, and it would not be a massive surprise to see a couple of changes for Wednesday with the short turnaround- possibly seeing starts for Bae Jae-woo and Sherzod Temirov. Much tougher tests await, but in recent years most games with Rangers have been tight cagey affairs, so asserting our dominance was a strong indicator of how good we can be this season.

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