Hong Kong's World Cup campaign flickered back to life when the territory scored a battling, 3-2 victory over Thailand at the Hong Kong Stadium yesterday.
Forward Au Wai-lun struck three minutes from time to seal the territory's first triumph in the Asian Group Six qualifiers - and salvage some pride after two defeats.
Fellow South China players Ricky Cheng Siu-chung and Lee Kin-wo had earlier found the net.
Hong Kong's national coach Kwok Ka-ming, now armed with three points from three games, did not discount the territory's chances of winning the group, even though favourites South Korea are in a strong position with two home ties left to play.
Kwok, who won his first World Cup match since taking charge last year, said: 'We still have a chance. If we beat Korea away, we can win the group if Thailand beat them as well [in Korea].' A Hong Kong victory over South Korea in Korea on May 28 does seem far-fetched, but at least Kwok could savour his moment of glory yesterday, following a game which had a crowd of 12,846 leaving the stadium happily.
An ugly incident just before the interval marred what was otherwise a memorable day for the territory.
