Industrious Kitchee refuses to rest on its laurels

Striving to nail down a first-place finish in the Sapling Cup group stage, Kitchee will face Group B rival BC Rangers in Hammer Hill Road Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon. Kick-off time for Kitchee’s final Sapling Cup Group B fixture will be 2:30pm. At the time of writing, Group B second-place side Kitchee currently has two wins, one draw and seven points from its first three Sapling Cup group matches, trailing group leader Hong Kong Pegasus by two points. Hence a win on the weekend will see Kitchee leapfrogging Hong Kong Pegasus and finishing on top of Group B. While Kitchee might be coming off a taxing midweek battle against Kashiwa Reysol in the AFC Champions League group stage, yet the victory should be a huge confidence booster for the Blues. Adding to the fact that some of the Kitchee players who are not involved in the AFC Champions League should be well-rested for this Sapling Cup tilt, therefore it should be expected Kitchee will likely adopt an aggressive approach in order to break down BC Rangers and claim all three points. Diminutive midfielder Barak Braunshtain reveals Kitchee is aiming for a first-place finish in the Sapling Cup group stage and will therefore go all out trying to attack the BC Rangers goal. “Going all out in every game and playing for a win are important parts of the Kitchee culture over here,” offered the highly-skilled youngster. “As a team, we have done quite well in the Sapling Cup this season and for me personally, I have also received quite a lot of playing time in the tournament. Hence I really want to help the team to keep its strong run going, eventually nailing down the top-spot in Group B.” Emerging forward Sebastian Buddle stresses that while it has been a while since Kitchee last played in the Sapling Cup, yet the team’s young players are still in very good form and will be ready for all comers on the weekend. “Although we know we are through to the next round of the Sapling Cup, yet we are not satisfied with our current group position. We are going to give it our best shot in this game, hoping to come out on top and claim the top spot in the group standing,” Buddle candidly shed light on the team’s target for the weekend. “It has been a while since the team last competed in the Sapling Cup, but us young players have all been playing regularly in the reserves while trying to stay sharp. I am very confident that we should all be in good shape to take on the opponent.”