Another humiliating defeat, surely curtains for Cardoso now- Kitchee 1 North District 2

Written by Adam O'Domhnaill

Kitchee's poor season got even worse with a late gasp defeat to North District. Aaron Rey's goal gave Kitchee the lead after some early North District pressure, before Kendy equalised from range just after half time. The second half was cagey; North District denied a penalty for a foul in the buildup and Kitchee limited to shots from range, before Kendy condemned Kitchee to defeat in stoppage time.

Team news

Four changes for Kitchee. Leon Jones and Jay Haddow were out injured and Law Tsz-chun and Juninho dropped to the bench. Bae Jae-woo, Helio, Cheng Chin-lung and Ngan Cheuk-pan came in. Welthon, Poon Pui-hin and Li Siu-hin came onto the bench. For Cheng Chin-lung it was his first league start since September.

Talley; Bae (Law 74), Helio (c), Dantas, Jordan (Welthon 84); Lung (Juninho 74), Ngan, Rey; Machado, Temirov, Fernando

Unused subs: Wang, Poon, Hin, Buddle, Tuscany, Slattery, Jason, Li Siu Hin

Match events

North District piled on the pressure early on, forcing Talley into two saves, and Kitchee's attempts to play out from the back were horrendous, with Ngan Cheuk-pan being surrounded in midfield, picking up a yellow card for his troubles. Temirov had a good header saved for Kitchee's first chance of note, before some nice attacking play from Lung, Machado and Temirov set up Aaron Rey to score his seventh goal of the season. The first half ended 1-0, but Kitchee looked complacent and lazy, with many players not tracking back or making an effort to get onto the end of passes.

The second half started and Jordan Lam failed to properly clear the ball forward. A few deft touches later and Kendy had far too much space and scored, his 4th goal against Kitchee in seven meetings, and yet again Kitchee had been poor defensively having failed to make the most of attacking opportunities. North District were then awarded a penalty when captain Helio took out a North District attacker, but it was overturned in bizarre circumstances. North District had countered after winning the ball back in midfield, and Kitchee had switched off completely, before Helio infringed. But VAR judged this tussle in the North District half was enough of a foul to overrule the on pitch decision, handing Kitchee a lifeline. But more inability to show any attacking coherence allowed North District to continue flooding forward. Talley made an exceptional double save after Kitchee failed to clear a corner, and Wong Wai-kowk went close a couple of times. Kitchee were limited to shots from range, with Juninho and Ngan Cheuk-pan amongst those who hit speculative efforts. The VAR decision brought with it eight minutes of stoppage time, and yet more poor defensive work allowed Kendy to easily find his way into the box and head in, his 5th in seven games against Kitchee. There was time for a Dantas freekick to be easily dealt with, and Kitchee fell to defeat again.

Fans feedback

What more can be said? Wasteful attacking play, a lack of cohesion between forward players and multiple opportunities squandered, either through tame efforts or a poor final ball. Fynn Talley kept Kitchee in that match until the bitter end, making a host of excellent saves, and the young Englishman has improved as the season has gone on, while the rest of the squad goes backwards. Beyond the goal, almost every Kitchee chance came from outside of the box, and yet again Kitchee failed to make dominant periods of the game count. We've criticised it a lot but again a lack of ideas and substitutions from Cardoso, leaving it late to make changes rather than injecting fresh legs early. The first five minutes was painful to watch, as Kitchee constantly sought to play out from the back despite the obvious risks and lack of success. The players look lethargic and lazy from playing 90 minutes each week; the lack of trust in youth that has been an issue at Kitchee for years is there again.

What's on next

Lee Man away on Saturday 12th, 6pm kick off at Tseung Kwan O. Five games left of this bonfire of a season. Kitchee's defeat on Saturday was their fourth of the season, equalling 2018/19 and 2012/13. Given Kitchee still have to take on the top three in the league, fans players and staff hope for better, so Kitchee do not equal the six league defeats of 2007/08.

Match highlights

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