Kitchee held to goalless draw against resilient BC

Kitchee tried extremely hard but failed to breakdown a resilient BC Glory Sky defense on Sunday’s premier league encounter at home, ending the match in a 0:0 goalless draw and dropping two crucial points as a result. After the match, Kitchee remained second in the premier league title-chase. After successive away matches, Kitchee finally returned home for the premier league. However, a sudden downpour over the weekend seemed to have affected the playing surface, as players looked to be hindered in their runs and turns. Yet that did not stop Kitchee from controlling the match, as Fernando Pedreira’s two headers came tantalizingly close to opening the score for the Blues. With the game locked in a stalemate, Kitchee made several changes and sent on Alessandro Leonardo, Rufino Segovia and Jared Lum, hoping to add options to its attack. While the Blues were aggressively looking for the winning goal, the backend became exposed, allowing BC Glory Sky several decent scoring chances. Only several fine saves by Kitchee custodian Wang Zhenpeng managed to keep the score tie at the end, as the two teams shook hands on a 0:0 draw. Goalkeeper Wang Zhengpeng, who made some key stops in the second half, commented on the team’s overall performance. “It is a bit disappointing not to win the game, but this is not going to affect our preparation for the upcoming Eastern Long Lions game. We try our best in every game no matter who we come up against anyways. We had several chances throughout the game against BC Glory Sky but did not capitalize, then we started to rush things, allowing the opponent the opportunity to counter-attack. Regarding my saves, I was merely trying my best,” Wang said. The Kitchee custodian also thought his side controlled the match well but pointed to its finishing as a work in process. “We were a bit soft when it comes to the final touch, and that is the difference between whether it is a goal or not. We seemed to have dominated the game but it looked like we wanted to keep possession until the very end before we pull the trigger. It simply did not happen as we would have liked.” Midfielder Matthew Lam believed the Blues’ failure to open the score early in the game made it all the more difficult to score as the game progressed. “The longer the game went goalless, the more confident the BC Glory Sky players became. They parked the bus in the back and was quite good at that. Despite dropping points tonight, I am not too worried about the game against Eastern Long Lions next weekend. We created quite a lot of chances tonight and our scoring record has been quite decent as well.”