Kitchee and Kwoon Chung Southern Shook Hands on Go

Under short-rest, Kitchee returned to the battlefield on Wednesday evening by taking on Kwoon Chung Southern in a Henderson Sapling Cup Group A fixture. The two sides braved the elements but could not muster enough to secure the game-winner, ended up shaking hands on a 0:0 draw. With the newly-gained lone point from the draw, Kitchee remained on top of Group A with five points. Influential centre-back Fernando Recio returned to the field on Wednesday night from his recent injury, somewhat easing Kitchee’s injury crisis on the backline. Both sides failed to create much in the first-half but Lo Kwan-yee did come close with a dangerous blast that was superbly denied by Kwoon Chung Southern keeper Wong Tsz-him. Kitchee got off to a scare shortly after the second-half went underway, with Wellingsson De Souza showed off great speed and threatened the Kitchee goal. Thankfully, the Brazilian’s tight-angle shot could not find the target. Kitchee started to take over the game in the middle of the second-half but simply could not find the back of the net. Youngster Ngan Cheuk-pan and Cheng Chin-lung both entered the game and fared decently during their time on the pitch. Ngan was actually involved in a sweet one-two with Fernando Pedreira but the latter could not hit the target from a rather tight-angle. Deep in stoppage time, Cheng nearly became the Kitchee hero when the promising youngster received the ball from Lam Ka-wai but saw his shot hitting the side-netting. Kitchee captain Lo Kwan-yee admitted after the game that the team performed below-par on the evening. “We created many chances during the game but simply failed to capitalize on any one of them. We did well in terms of using the ball but seemed to lack a bit of determination when it came to our finishing, as you could tell from the lack of support once we entered the opponent’s end,” Lo assessed. Centre-back Fernando Recio collided with a Kwoon Chung Southern player late in the game but was quick to ease the minds of the Kitchee faithful after the match. “My arm is still aching from the collision but I am sure after sufficient rest, there will not be much of a problem. I am very confident that I can play for the team this weekend,” the Spaniard declared.