Kitchee continues its winning ways in the HKFA League Cup Group A by overcoming old nemesis South China in a 2:1 victory on Sunday afternoon, maintaining its 100% League Cup winning record in the process. Kitchee started the game with five lineup changes from its previous match, including the return of Daniel Cancela and Huang Yang. Kitchee enjoyed more scoring chances in the first-half and nearly opened the score through a Tong Kin-man header. The side finally secured its lead right before the interval, when Jorge Tarres connected with a corner-kick and powered the ball home through a timely header. South China tried to mount a comeback in the second-half but could not get past keeper Wang Zhenpeng and the rest of the Kitchee defense. Kitchee managed to snatch another goal on the 88th minute through an opportunistic Juan Belencoso strike from close-range. Despite Lam Hok-hei pulling one back for South China late in the game, Kitchee still managed to hold onto the lead right towards the final whistle, winning the League Cup battle 2:1 and securing its second League Cup victory. Head coach Abraham Garcia talked about the lineup headache that he was facing before the start of the match. “We have a lot of injured defenders such as Li Ngai-hoi, Helio Goncalves and Fernando Recio. Thus I am simply glad to see Daniel Cancela and Huang Yang able to return to the pitch. We played well in the first-half and should have netted a few goals. We had ten corner-kicks in the first-half and finally scored before half-time,” the Spaniard recalled. “We expected South China to come out in the second-half desperate for the equalizer and things got worse when Huang Yang needed to leave the game. Therefore we moved Daniel Cancela to the middle and slotted Fernando Pedreira into the left-back position. I want to thank all the players and supporters for their efforts and after the previous premier league loss, this win should be able to rebuild the players’ confidence.” Midfielder Huang Yang returned from injury for the South China tilt and gave himself a passing grade on his first game back. “Kitchee is going through a very congested fixture period and the team wants me to gradually pick up the feeling of playing in competitive matches. The coach has continuously given me a lot of space and trust, enabling me to just play my game on the pitch,” said Huang.
Kitchee Maintains 100% Winning Record in League Cu
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