Title ambitions hit another bump in the road with draw at Southern- Southern 1 Kitchee 1

By Adam O'Domhnaill

Summary

Kitchee drew for the fourth time in ten HKPL games this season, with Machado's second half equaliser cancelling out Jackson Sousa's opener. Welthon had the chance to win the game with a 97th minute penalty, but Ivan Ng's save meant the points were shared, and Kitchee's run of games without a win in the league after conceding first continued well into a fifth year.

Team news

Kitchee had four players ruled out with injury. Long term absentees Jay Haddow and Tan Chun-lok continued their path to fitness, while Juninho and Fernando were ruled out with minor knocks. Wang Zhenpeng replaced Fynn Talley in goal, and Chen Ngo-hin made his first Kitchee HKPL start, in Kitchee's first game for nearly a month, and first in the league since the end of November. Along with Wang, Machado made his first start since early November, and Ngan Cheuk-pan and Sherzod Temirov returned to the starting lineup. Tuscany, Law, Lung and Slattery dropped to the bench from Kitchee's last game, the 3-0 Sapling Cup defeat to Tai Po.

Lineup: Wang; Bae (Law 46), Helio (c), Dantas, Jordan; Ngan (Poon 73), Rey, Chen (Mingazow 46); Temirov, Welthon, Machado (Lung 85)

Subs: Tuscany, Law, Leon, Mingazow, Lung, Poon, Buddle, Slattery, Jason

Match highlights

Welthon had a header saved from an early corner, before Awal's ball over the top evaded the Kitchee defence to reach Jackson, who opened the scoring after nineteen minutes. Kitchee searched for an equaliser, with Temirov (acrobatically), Welthon and Machado going close, but they went in at half time 1-0 down. Cardoso, often criticised here and elsewhere for a lack of substitutions, made a double change, with Law and Mingazow coming on for Bae and Chen. 

But Kitchee's insistence on playing out from the back almost caused their downfall again, as a poor pass from Dantas allowed Jackson to drive forward, and shoot straight at Wang. Just before the hour mark, a lovely ball from Ngan found Law on the right, and his cross was turned in by Machado to level the scores. Southern substitute Merkies almost latched onto a ball in, and in the process caught Wang with his studs, and the veteran goalkeeper was less than pleased with the youngster. Ivan Ng kept out Temirov's deflected effort, and experienced Southern sub Acosta hit a long range shot, which Wang almost spilled in. Jordan Lam hit the post with his weaker right foot, before chaos ensued in the seven minutes of stoppage time. Good linkup from Law and Lung down the right saw the former's cross hit the hand of a Southern defender, and Kitchee had a lifeline to get three points. Unfortunately Welthon went the same way as goalkeeper Ivan Ng, and both sides went away with a point, but both will feel the three were there for the taking.

Fan Feedback

Kitchee were defensively poor, being regularly caught out being too cute playing the ball out, with the pace of Awal, Merkies and Jackson causing our defence trouble, especially the 'back two' of Helio and Dantas, as the fullbacks pushed on. That being said, Kitchee did get a point from a game where they were not at their best, and Welthon scoring the stoppage time penalty would have been harsh on Southern. Cardoso only made one sub in the cup defeat to Lee Man, and made changes and gambles that almost paid off; at the end Kitchee were in a 4-2-4, with Lung and Rey as the pivots. A lot of Kitchee's ineffectiveness can be partially put down to rust, with the club not having a competitive game in nearly a month. The team did show a good fighting spirit after going 1-0 down, and would have ended a long spell of not coming from behind to win had Welthon scored.

Cardoso made changes, with regular starters Talley, Leon and Mingazow all left out. These did not pay off, with Wang looking far from his best in goal, nearly spilling a shot in, Helio looking slow at the back, and Chen Ngo-hin being swamped in midfield, and ultimately withdrawn at half time. Kitchee lost the ball in midfield often; as has often been the case in Tan Chun-lok's absence, opposition midfields swarm to mark Ngan Cheuk-pan, and Aaron Rey and Chen Ngo-hin were also complacent and struggled under pressure. Kitchee showed shades of last season, with lots of questioning officials and not playing until the whistle, and were fortunate to win the penalty at the death. Southern sat deep for large parts of the game, and Kitchee had no answer for them. Welthon was often marked by two or three defenders, and Temirov out wide works hard but does not offer a threat from crosses.

What's next

Eastern away (18th Jan, 6pm, Mong Kok Stadium stadium) and Tai Po away (26th Jan, 3pm, Tai Po Sports Ground). Two hugely important games, where we will hope to have our injured players back. There is also talk of a new midfielder coming in, probably to fill the gap left by Tan Chun-lok's long-term absence, which seems set to continue. Also in January, some of Hong Kong's young players face off against Guangdong in the Hong Kong-Guangdong Cup, with the second leg at Hong Kong Stadium on the 22nd January. No current Kitchee players feature, but outgoing loanee Sohgo Ichikawa and a few players who spent time in our academy are in the squad.

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