Kitchee get revenge on Tai Po as Senior Shield defence gets off to a strong start- Kitchee 3 Tai Po 1

Credits to SportsRoad

Kitchee extended their unbeaten run in the Senior Shield to nearly five years with a revenge win over Tai Po. First half goals from Bae Jae-woo and Sherzod Temirov gave Kitchee the upper hand at half time, before Gabriel Cividini pulled one back just after half time. Kitchee restored the two goal advantage through Ruslan Mingazow, and will face Lee Man in the semi final in early December.

Team news

Kitchee made four changes and reverted back to the 4-3-3 formation that has brought good fortune this season. Veteran goalkeeper Wang came in for Talley, with Jordan Lam, Bae Jae-woo and Temirov coming in for Law, Ngan Cheuk-pan and Welthon. Jay Haddow returned to the bench having been out of the squad for last week's defeat.

Wang; Bae (Haddow 55), Leon, Dantas, Lam (Fernando 81); Lok (c), Rey, Juninho (Ngan 63), Machado, Temirov (Poon 81), Mingazow

Unused: Tuscany, Law, Helio, Lung, Chen, Buddle, Slattery, Jason Kam

Match highlights

Credits to SportsRoad

Around the half hour mark Jordan Lam's cross was headed away, and Bae Jae-woo's low first time shot from outside the box nestled in the bottom corner. Shortly afterwards great work from Mingazow won back possession and played in Temirov, who evaded the Brazilian giants in the Tai Po backline before running past Tse Ka-wing and slotting home. On an eventful night for the Uzbek forward, he was booked for taking his shirt off to celebrate, having previously received a head knock which required a headband. A true warrior. Half time 2-0.

Credits to SportsRoad

Tai Po made two changes at half time, bringing former Kitchee players Igor Sartori and Philip Chan, and within minutes they had a goal back. Kitchee failed to deal properly with a corner, and Tai Po captain Gabriel fired in. Tai Po were galvanised and grew into the game; Igor Sartori crossed in a freekick, and Wang made an incredible save to tip the resulting header onto the bar, before Tai Po forced the rebound in, but the linesman's flag was raised and the goal did not stand. Just after the hour, in response to growing Tai Po pressure, Cardoso swapped Juninho for Ngan Cheuk-pan, and almost immediately the substitute played a beautiful ball out to Mingazow. The Turkmen winger got past Weverton with ease and cut inside, before finishing nicely, and Kitchee had their two goal advantage back. Wang kept the score at 3-1 with a good save from Renner, before Temirov was subbed off to great applause from the fans after a fantastic display of hard work. Kitchee had more chances to score; a nice cross from the left by Poon was played into Machado by Mingazow, but in the resulting pinball none of the trio could convert. The game ended 3-1, and Kitchee's dominance in the competition in recent years continued.

Fan feedback

Credits to SportsRoad

A very good win, overcoming the demons of last week while reverting back to a more familiar formation. The changes worked well, with two of the four recalled to the starting line up scoring in the first half. Kitchee withstood heavy Tai Po pressure early on in the second half, but were able to see out the game thanks to solid defending and swift transitions. Aaron Rey is looking like our key player in midfield, with his skills on the ball crucial to how we change from defence to attack. Our off the ball movement is much better than last season, although some fans worry that we do not have enough players to play this tactical style every game. Ngan Cheuk-pan has improved massively following his loan spell at Sham Shui Po, and his well-weighted pass set up Mingazow to make the game safe. Poon Pui-hin off the bench offered pace and energy, but very little end product.

Credits to SportsRoad

In the grand scheme of things, this was an important win, showing that we can defeat the top teams, which is crucial this weekend as Lee Man come to visit. Mingazow is starting to show signs of his first season form and we hope this can continue. There are still question marks over the goalkeeping situation; Wang Zhenpeng was solid and made a couple of spectacular saves to help us win. Talley has the higher ceiling, but Wang has the experience and is more confident at the moment. It is highly unlikely Kitchee would use a foreign spot on a substitute goalkeeper in any competition, and would Cardoso risk Wang starting regularly with sixteen year old Tuscany Shek as backup in the league? Time will tell.

Matheus Dantas has improved our defence massively, with good composure on the ball, while Bae Jae-woo provides solid defence and attack down the right hand side, rounded off with a lovely goal, and deserves more minutes in the starting line up. It will be interesting to see the foreign players used against Lee Man this weekend, given that you have nine players with strong claims to play battling for seven foreign player spaces in a matchday squad.

What's next 

Lee Man at home, 6pm on Saturday. While last season's invincible champions are in poor form, they will still pose a test, that hopefully we can get through.

Kitchee had ten players called up to the preliminary Hong Kong squad for the two friendlies in November- Tan Chun-lok, Helio, Law Tsz-chun, Poon Pui-hin, Fernando, Juninho, Cheng Chin-lung, Ngan Cheuk-pan, Leon Jones and Jordan Lam.

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Across November, some Kitchee fans will be raising money for Movember and the Hong Kong Cancer Fund. Any support would be greatly appreciated- keep an eye out for our social media posts.

Match highlights