Defeat against BC Rangers Sent Kitchee Packing in

Kitchee, failing to handle BC Rangers’ counter-attacks, came up on the wrong side of a 0:2 score line on Wednesday evening’s Henderson Sapling Cup Group A battle. The loss saw Kitchee wrapping up the Sapling Cup group stage with five points from four games. With several Group A sides still having matches on hand, Kitchee’s progress in the tournament was put to a stop. Kitchee started the game somewhat slowly and despite having an early goal from Juan Belencoso called back due to offside, the side was largely the lesser team in the first half, with BC Rangers clearly enjoying the upper hand. In fact, it was due to several miraculous saves from Kitchee keeper Guo Jianqiao that the match remained goalless heading into the half time break. Kitchee quickly fell behind the eight ball when the second half resumed, as two successive counter-attacks saw BC Rangers finding the back of the net, courtesy to goals from Tommy Chuck and Hui Wang-fung. Kitchee tried to storm back afterwards but Christian Annan, Juan Belencoso, Huang Yang and Cheng Chin-lung all failed to net the necessary goals to put Kitchee back in the game, sealing Kitchee’s heart-break in the process. Keeper Guo Jianqiao admitted post-game that Kitchee had a sub-par performance on Wednesday evening. “BC Rangers did not possess as much threat as people would have expected. We lost this game due to our disappointing performance and that is pretty much the main reason,” the Kitchee custodian offered. “As a goalkeeper, I just go out, try to keep my team in the game and give them a chance to win. However, allowing two goals on the counter-attack is very disappointing indeed.” Prospect Cheng Chin-lung confessed to being less than satisfied with his own performance against BC Rangers. “We managed to retain possession for the large part of the game and it was the two counter-attacks by BC Rangers that really caught us red handed. I thought I could have played a better game and maybe it was my first time ever starting for the first team, therefore I found myself quite nervous on the pitch. Hopefully, I will still get my chance later in the season and pick up valuable experience,” Cheng said.