作客迫和香港飛馬 傑志聯賽續領羣雄

Entering the weekend riding on a red-hot two-game winning streak, Kitchee secured a spirited 1:1 away draw against Hong Kong Pegasus on late Sunday afternoon, dropping its first points of the season but still managed to hold on to the pole position in the premier league table. Kitchee had great chances to open the score in the first half but efforts from Fernando Pedreira and Lucas Da Silva both hit the Hong Kong Pegasus goal-post and stayed out of the net. In the second half, Kitchee continued to dominate proceedings but was also threatened by the occasional Hong Kong Pegasus counter-attacks. Late in the game, Hong Kong Pegasus’ Joao Emir unleashed a long-range strike that was saved by Wang Zhenpeng in the Kitchee net. Travis Major went for the rebound and directed the ball home, sending Hong Kong Pegasus in front. Just when it looked like Kitchee was set to suffer its first defeat of the season, Fernando Pedreira came to the rescue and blasted a magnificent strike from the right flank that thumped into the Hong Kong Pegasus net, tying the game at 1:1. Lucas Da Silva also had a late chance but failed to convert, as the two sides shook hands on the eventual draw. Kitchee winger Lam Zhi Gin acknowledged both sides had chances to score throughout the game and a tie was a reasonable outcome. “It was a very tight game and both sides came close to racking up goals. I thought if luck was on our side, we could have even won the game. Having said that, picking up a point from this away fixture is a reasonable gain,” Lam assessed after the full-time whistle. “Despite conceding late in the game, I am very proud of how we came back and tied the game. This proved that we never gave up and were always going for goals from the first whistle to the last.” Fernando Pedreira, who scored a spectacular equalizer and rescued a point for Kitchee, insisted the draw would not deter the Blues from driving forward to the premier league title. “We certainly created lots of chances in the game. It is too bad that we could not score early and return home with all three points. I think luck might have played a factor in it but that is simply football,” said the Brazilian schemer. “Although we did drop points from the game, the team played really well and the boys were not overly disappointed. We will definitely pick ourselves up and continue to march forward towards our goals for this season.”