One point gained or two points dropped? Kitchee held to a draw by Lee Man in feisty encounter- Kitchee 1 Lee Man 1

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Kitchee again failed to beat Lee Man in the league, with Lee Man continuing to prove a bogey team for us. Anier's opener was equalised by Poon Pui-hin in first half stoppage time, and the clash between the last two league champions saw ten yellow cards, two brawls and both sides having chances to win.

Team news

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Kitchee made two changes from last weeks Senior Shield victory; Talley and Ngan Cheuk-pan (for his 50th Kitchee appearance) coming in for Wang and the injured Temirov. This also meant a reshuffle: Juninho moving into a centre forward role for the first time this season and Kitchee going for added midfield solidity with Tan Chun-lok and Ngan Cheuk-pan together.

Talley; Bae (Haddow 66), Leon, Dantas, Lam (Fernando 79); Lok (Poon 11), Ngan, Rey; Machado, Juninho, Mingazow

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

Match highlights

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Juninho had an early effort from range tipped over, before Kitchee cleared a goalmouth scramble as Lee Man had multiple chances to score. Tan Chun-lok was in the wars early on, eventually needing to be replaced after eleven minutes through injury, and would later leave the stadium in a wheelchair. With Ngan Cheuk-pan already on the pitch, there was no natural replacement, so Poon Pui-hin was brought on, which meant a reshuffle to a 4-2-3-1, with Machado moving centrally and Poon on the right. There was then sustained Lee Man pressure, with a number of balls into good areas but they were not getting any shots off. Eventually Anier scored, beating Talley at the near post, before Everton hit the woodwork, inches away from doubling their lead. This kicked Kitchee into life, with them spending more time in the Lee Man half, and they were rewarded in first half stoppage time. Poon played in Machado, whose cheeky backheel set Poon up to finish first time for his second goal of the season. 1-1, and a pulsating clash had seen both sides have periods in the ascendency and two yellow cards apiece.

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The second half saw Kitchee start strong, with Juninho having a goalbound header blocked by Dudu, with penalty claims waved away. Samuel Rosa then skied a shot from right in front of the goal against the run of play, Kitchee holding firm once again. As the game came towards a close, the last fifteen minutes got very tense and tetchy; five on pitch yellow cards, Cardoso starting a brawl after an argument with Tim Chow over a throw in (receiving a booking), and Aaron Rey hauling down Everton, who was lucky not to be sent off for his swinging arm, which caused another brawl. Fights aside, the closing exchanges saw both sides have chances to win; Juninho went close from Machado's freekick, before Paulissen fired wide and Talley tipped Everton's effort onto the post. Both sides will feel they could have won, and the game finished 1-1.

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Fan feedback

An entertaining encounter, with both sides having chances to win, and fans enjoying the tackles flying in and the two brawls late in the second half. While Kitchee had more of the ball and more shots on target, they were certainly grateful to some wayward Lee Man finishing, although our opponents did hit the woodwork on multiple occasions. Both sides will come away thinking that game was there for the taking, and time will tell whether it proves to be a crucial point for Kitchee in a game they could have lost.

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Kitchee definitely missed Temirov and Welthon in attack, although Juninho put a hardworking shift in, having spent most of this season in midfield. With one of our main strikers available, we probably win that. The team also adapted to Tan Chun-lok's injury early on with the resulting change of formation. Fans admired the passion shown by both sides, and a willingness to get stuck in. While five yellow cards for Kitchee suggests a lack of discipline, at least the majority were for fouls rather than dissent, which was a big issue for Kitchee last year towards the end of the season especially.

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Poon played more minutes in this game than he had all season in a Kitchee shirt and worked hard. He scored a nice equalising goal and got himself into good areas. Our signings are blending in well to the side; while Talley could have done better with the goal, his distribution improved, Leon Jones and Dantas have a solid partnership at the back, and Aaron Rey and Luis Machado are very good technical players. Jordan Lam and Bae Jae-woo started at full back, with Jay Haddow coming on, and there are definitely conversations to be had about what the right selection balance is.

One more thing to take away is how long it has been since we last beat Lee Man in the league, with April 2021 being our last victory. Although we have beaten them in cup competitions since then, we cannot break them down in the league. It is also the best part of five years since Kitchee went behind in a league game and came back to win. While a stat like this highlights our dominance in recent season,

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with three league wins, it does call into question the mentality of the squad once we go a goal behind. That is also four games of the opening seven in the league where we have dropped points, after the early season draws with North District and Southern, and the recent defeat to Tai Po. If we are to have any chance of winning the league, we probably need a near-flawless league run until the end of the season. Saying that, with the cup competitions, bye weeks and Hong Kong playing the EAFF qualifiers in December Kitchee only have one more league game before mid January, by which time we can hope Jay Haddow received his passport to play as a local player and the squad continues to build their coherence.

What's next

Kitchee have a week off before travelling to Sheung Shui to play Northern District in the Sapling Cup on the 16th at 3pm. Hong Kong have two home games either side of this, so we will take a weakened squad up north.

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Some of our fans are fundraising for charity throughout this month, moving as much distance as possible. More details are on our social media pages. If you'd like to support our efforts, please use the following links:

Movember 

Hong Kong Cancer Fund

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Match highlights