Back to back defeats for the first time in over two years see Kitchee facing an uphill task in the ACL2- Tai Po 4 Kitchee 2 and Phnom Penh Crown 2 Kitchee 0

Summary

Kitchee lost twice in six days, being eliminated from the Senior Shield and falling to a late defeat in Phnom Penh. In Saturday's Senior Shield game Kitchee went in 1-0 up at half time but then conceded three goals in six minutes, and eventually fell to a 4-2 defeat. On Thursday Kitchee missed a host of chances and were made to pay, as two late goals handed Phnom Penh all three points.

Team news

Kitchee made six changes with an eye on Phnom Penh away on Thursday. Haddow, Mingazow and Camarasa dropped to the bench, with Bear and Beattie left out of the matchday squad and Asier Illarramendi out injured. Liang Kui-chung made his debut at right back, and Yumemi Kanda returned to the starting line up after two months out. Enikar, Jordan, Juninho and Obieta also came in. Sixteen year old Fong Chun-kit made his first matchday squad.

Enikar; Liang (Haddow 57), Jason, Riera, Jordan, Shingchun (Mingazow 80), Lok (c) (Camarasa 57), Everton (Sephrey 57), Kanda, Juninho, Obieta (Adrian 57)

Unused subs: Lung, Tuscany, Li Siu-hin, Nic Cheung, Poon Wing-kei, Yu Ching-wai, Fong Chun-kit

Match events

Enikar made two sharp stops from Marquinhos and Emilio Estevez as the first half was fairly dull. Just after the half hour Tan Chun-lok played a through ball into Juninho, who after a neat touch scored to give Kitchee the lead. The first half meandered to a close, but the game was about to explode into life. Kitchee failed to deal with a long ball, and Wallisson Bahia controlled it well and finished easily. Minutes later, more shoddy defending from Kitchee let the ball reach the unmarked Fernando, who gave Tai Po the lead with a crisp shot. With all the momentum with Tai Po, an extremely poorly designed short goalkick routine against a high press saw Tai Po easily turn the ball over, allowing Marcus Chang to give Tai Po a 3-1 lead after barely five minutes of the second half, with both sets of fans stunned. Good work from Kanda teed up Everton to score a trademark left-footed effort, while Adrian hit the bar with an acrobatic effort just after the hour which would have drawn Kitchee level. Another Fernando effort sealed victory for Tai Po, with Kitchee's legend hitting a low long shot with fifteen minutes left. Kitchee made very few clearcut chances following this, and will hope for an improved performance and result away in Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh Crown 2 Kitchee 0

Team news

Marcos, Illarra, Kendy, Dudu all did not travel to Cambodia, along with long term absentee Ari Lam. Calderon made six changes from Saturday's Senior Shield game, and reverted back to a 442, despite the clear success of a 433 against Lee Man last week. Riera, Jason, Lok, Everton and Obieta kept their spots.

Bear; Haddow (Jordan 72), Riera, Jason, Beattie; Everton, Camarasa, Lok (c) (Juninho 72), Mingazow; Adrian, Obieta (Kanda 75)

Unused subs: Lung, Enikar, Shingchun, Siuhin, Chingwai, Sephrey

Match events

Bear denied Riku Matsuda early on, while Moses Dyer and Valeriy Hryshyn had chances as the first half went on. Kitchee's best chance came when Everton's quick thinking played in Obieta free on the edge of the Phnom Penh box, but he spent too much time on the ball and missed the opportunity to square it to Mingazow or put a good shot in, and the chance went away. Everton turned into a demon in the final five minutes of the half, with Lok, Mingazow and himself all going close after his good work.

At half time the wingers swapped sides, and almost immediately Everton went on a mazy run down the left, but Mingazow could not convert when the ball came to him. A long throw created a good opportunity for Moses Dyer, but he could not score, and neither could Mijland and Kouet Pich as Phnom Penh had a good spell. Mingazow's cross was dealt with, and he later forced a good save from Um Vichet. Just after seventy minutes Calderon made a double sub, with Jordan Lam coming on at left back and Juninho coming on in midfield, forcing a reshuffle. PPC continued to test Bear, but in the last ten minutes Jordan, Juninho, Mingazow and final substitute Kanda all went close to giving Kitchee a crucial lead. As full time approached Ty Sa had far too much space down the Kitchee right and curled a superb effort that Bear had no chance of reaching. Everton's freekick was easily dealt with as Kitchee sought an equaliser, but as Kitchee left men up an under pressure Bear passed the ball straight to Daniel Bares, who ran towards goal and sealed the game.

Fan feedback

Kitchee's hopes of progressing in the ACL2 took a massive dent and Kitchee cannot afford any slip ups in the final games. Kitchee will rue missed opportunities throughout the competition- sit third on two points out of nine but easily could have won one or two games. Having two of the final three games being at home may help Kitchee if they can convert chances. Illarramendi's absence cost Kitchee control in midfield, and the injuries led to some predictable substitutions, with the teenagers on the bench not being trusted in such a crucial game.

What's next

Phnom Penh at home in a must-win game at Mong Kok. Thursday 5th at 6pm, tickets available here. After that Kitchee take on Kowloon City in the League Cup at Siu Sai Wan on the 14th November, where we may have a fairly full squad if HKFA incompetence around organising friendlies (or even one friendly) continues. HKFA opted to play the Hong Kong-Guangdong Cup, wasting a fixture window, but then this fell through. They are looking for an opponent last minute (probably Macau), in a frankly shambolic display of incompetence. Aaron Rey has returned to Kitchee, having previously been on our books in 24/25, scoring six in twenty eight games. He adds some additional midfield depth.

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Photos by Kitchee

Written by Adam O'Domhnaill