Kitchee Suffered First Premier League Defeat of th

Kitchee travelled to Sham Shui Po Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon for a BOCG Life Hong Kong Premier League battle against Dreams Metro Gallery. Kitchee stumbled out of the gate and was handed a 2:1 defeat by the enterprising home side, dropping all three valuable premier league points in the process. Dreams Metro Gallery, likely the surprise package of the premier league so far this season, started the game brightly against Kitchee. The home side took the lead midway in the first half curtesy of a Clayton Afonso header. Moments later, former Kitchee player Chu Siu-kei added salt to Kitchee’s wound with a close-range strike to make it 2:0. Lam Ka-wai gave Kitchee a glimpse of hope right before half-time with a superb strike to make it 2:1 and suddenly, the visitors were back in the game. Kitchee upped the pressure in the second-half and generated numerous scoring chances but failed to convert any one of them. The 2:1 score somehow stood towards the final whistle as Kitchee suffered its first premier league loss this season on the hands of Dreams Metro Gallery. Kitchee head coach Abraham Garcia indicated defensive lapses were the main reasons for Dreams Metro Gallery’s goals. However, the Kitchee chief also spoke about his side having chances late in the game but simply could not capitalize. “We made two mistakes in the first-half and that led to the two goals from the opponent, putting ourselves in a very difficult position. We did manage to come up with quite a few chances in the second-half but simply could not find the back of the net. Maybe it was just not our day,” explained the Spaniard. &ldqldquo;It is true that the squad has been hit by the injury bug and the pitch condition is less than ideal. But Kitchee is a strong side and I do not want to use any of that as an excuse for the loss.” Midfielder Lam Ka-wai, who netted Kitchee’s only goal of the game, was very candid on his post-match assessment. “Dreams Metro Gallery played very well while we were lackluster on the pitch. We are an experienced side but we were rushing on things throughout the game. We need to understand teams will always have a tailor-made game plan when they play against Kitchee and we really need to learn how to deal with it,” Lam offered. “The loss is definitely going to affect our chances on the premier league title but the path to the championship remains a long one and I am not going to let this loss affect my confidence and determination.”