5 star Kitchee bounce back in style against poor North District side- Kitchee 5 North District 0

Kitchee were dominant in their return to winning ways, as first half goals from Machado, Rey and Juninho theoretically put Kitchee in the driving seat, although after last weeks capitulations naturally fans were nervous. Jordan Lam's sending off for two bookings just before the hour saw Kitchee play over half an hour with ten men, and despite some signs of resurgence from North District, two goals in quick succession from Juninho and Temirov sealed victory.

Team news

Welthon remained out alongside Mingazow and Tan Chun-lok, and the starting line up was unchanged. Law Tsz-chun's appearance off the bench was his 150th in a Kitchee shirt. Matthew Slattery made his first league appearance of the season, coming on in the closing stages. 

Talley; Bae, Leon, Dantas, Jordan; Machado, Ngan (Haddow 84), Rey (Lung 89), Fernando (c) (Law 64); Juninho (Chen 89), Temirov (Slattery 84)

Subs: Wang, Helio, Poon, Buddle, Tuscany, Jason

Match highlights

Temirov had an early header tipped over, but after seventeen minutes Kitchee broke the deadlock. Juninho's cross was defended terribly, and Machado pounced to score. The Portuguese winger had an opportunity to double the lead soon afterwards, but his tame effort was hit straight at the goalkeeper. Just after the half hour, Kitchee's attack linked up well to double the advantage. Aaron Rey passed to Juninho on the edge of the box, and the latter's shot was saved. Fernando hit a cross/shot on the rebound which the goalkeeper also kept out, but could only go as far as Aaron Rey. The Spaniard set himself and scored. Two minutes later a long ball forward from Juninho was chased down by Temirov, who played it back to Juninho to score with a lovely finish. As the half came to a close Talley was finally properly called into action to tip a shot away, and Kitchee were coasting, but fans, players and coaches were perhaps fearful of a comeback after the events of the last 10 days.

Juninho went close from range in the opening stages of the second half, before Kitchee went down to ten men, as Jordan Lam picked up two yellow cards in ten minutes. This prompted a reshuffle; Fernando was replaced by Law, who moved to left back, with Juninho coming onto the left wing. Talley spilled a freekick, being acrobatically rescued by Bae Jae-woo's clearance. North District were buoyed by the advantage and pushed forward a bit more, but Kitchee held firm. A lovely cross from Temirov was flicked first time by Rey and Machado, finding Juninho who doubled his tally for the afternoon. Barely a minute later Ngan Cheuk-pan's through ball found Temirov, and the Uzbek forward capped his strong attacking performance with a goal, after finding himself one on one with the keeper. This finally triggered Cardoso to make the remaining changes: Haddow, Slattery, Cheng Chin-lung and Chen Ngo-hin helping to see out the win and the clean sheet.

Fan feedback

A comfortable 5-0 win, which hopefully builds confidence for playing Lee Man next week. North District were poor and offered little, but we still scored some very nice goals. The only downside was Jordan Lam's sending off for two silly yellow cards, meaning Law Tsz-chun plays left back against Lee Man and marking Everton. There was naturally reluctance from Cardoso to make changes after the collapses of previous weeks, but the subs should have been made earlier- Law coming on at left back aside, there were no other subs until well past the eightieth minute. Temirov has played over eighty minutes in each of Kitchee's last seven games. Despite rounding off the scoring, it still took five minutes before he came off, to be replaced by Matthew Slattery for his first league appearance of the season. The team adjusted well to Jordan's red card; while there were less attacks we defended well and still scored twice. A fifth clean sheet of the season but there were some shaky moments spilling shots, and needed to be bailed out by Bae Jae-woo's acrobatic clearance in the first half.

What's next

We welcome Lee Man to Mong Kok at 6pm on Saturday 15th, on 'Super Saturday' with fellow title challengers Tai Po and Eastern facing off in a huge weekend for the league. In the week we also will find out which players are going away with Hong Kong for the upcoming games.

Keep in touch with our social media Facebook Instagram

Thanks to Scoop for photos Facebook Instagram