A cruel equaliser against the run of play denied Hong Kong what would have been a thoroughly deserved victory over Vietnam in the SAR's final Asian Games warmup at the Mongkok Stadium last night.
Vo Hoang Bun's magnificent curling low strike from 20 yards cancelled out Hong Kong substitute Yeung Hei-chi's 58th minute opener, frustrating Sebastiao Araujo's team's hopes of notching a morale-boosting win before they head to Bangkok next week.
Even so, Hong Kong will head to Thailand in good heart after another performance of character and confidence, which augurs well for local football.
A mark of how well Hong Kong played could be found in remarks made by Vietnam's Austrian coach Alfred Riedl.
'At the end of the game we have to be happy with a 1-1 scoreline . . . but I don't think the Hong Kong coach will be too happy because they created so many chances that they could have won easily,' Riedl said.
'I thought Hong Kong played very well.