A brace from Ruslan Mingazov and a quick finish from Poon Pui Hin 11 seconds after coming off the bench helped Kitchee to defeat rival Eastern 3:0 last Saturday (26 Nov) at the Hong Kong Premier League.
This was the first encounter between the teams in the League. Kitchee had most of the ball in the first half, but the team could not convert possession into attacks on goal. Eastern attempted to counterattack, but Paulo César made 2 key saves to keep the score line unchanged before half time. Kitchee managed to break the deadlock in the 54th minute when Roberto’s cross found Mingazov at the near post before the Turkmenistani winger headed the ball into the net.
Both Mingazov and Dejan Damjanović were close to scoring but their strikes failed to find the net. The score line would change again, however, when Mingazov doubled the lead 2 minutes into stoppage time. Poon Pui Hin entered the fray at the last moment of the game, and within 11 seconds he picked up the loose ball from a corner and smashed it home before the full time whistle to complete a 3:0 victory against Eastern.