Darko Rakocevic swung from villain to hero in a span of 20 minutes as Kitchee retained the League Cup with a 2-1 victory over Happy Valley in the final at Mong Kok Stadium yesterday.
Kitchee's Serbian defender conceded a penalty, converted by Poon Yiu-cheuk, when he brought down forward Shum Kwok-keung inside the box in the 56th minute.
But Rakocevic scored from two free kicks, in the 72nd and 76th minutes, and became the darling of the Kitchee fans, ensuring their side's first title of the season.
'I feel very happy,' said the 25-year-old centrehalf, an easy choice for the match's best defender award and a cash prize of HK$5,000.
'This is the first time I have scored two goals in a match and it helped the team win a cup. In fact, I have scored only one other goal this season, against Rangers in the First Division league. It is just wonderful.'
Rakocevic joined Kitchee in the middle of last season, but he has since been plagued by injuries. 'He only came back this month after a two-month injury lay-off and he had a good game today,' said Kitchee coach Dejan Antonic.
Kitchee also beat Valley in the final last year and their boss, Ken Ng Kin, paid a bonus of HK$40,000 to his winning charges, which was added to the winning finalists' cheque for HK$80,000 from the Football Association.